A tight, scrappy game was won by Cristiano Ronaldo’s 103rd minute goal.

Jose Mourinho had to reshuffle his defence with Raul Albiol suspended. Sergio Ramos moved into the centre, and Alvaro Arbeloa came in at right-back. Mourinho also chose to play no true striker – Karim Benzema was dropped with Mesut Ozil back in the side on the right. Ronaldo started ufpront.

The game started off very scrappy – there were a lot of free-kicks early on, a few scuffles amongst players, and a stop-start nature to the contest as a whole. This, of course, favoured Real Madrid – who were keen to break up Barcelona’s natural rhythm and make the game more of a battle.

Real press

Tactically, they sprung a slight surprise by pressing Barcelona in the midfield zone early on. Pepe, superb in his holding midfield position at the weekend, swapped roles with Xabi Alonso – so whilst Alonso sat between the lines in a 4-1-4-1 system, Pepe used his energy and strength higher up the pitch, particularly against Xavi Hernandez.

This worked very well for Real. Barcelona’s passing was very poor in the first period, and they missed having Xavi constantly free in space to dictate play. They attempted to get out of the press by dropping Busquets into the defence at times and switching to 3-4-3, but they encountered the same problem – they couldn’t get the ball forward to their attacking trio, and Lionel Messi moved deeper and deeper to pick up the ball, making him less of a goal threat.

Attacking play

Messi’s absence from the final third was particularly obvious because David Villa was woefully out of form and Pedro Rodriguez wasn’t much better before half time. It’s difficult to remember Barcelona creating a good opportunity in the first half.

Real went closest to scoring. Their main tactic was to quickly hit the ball wide and try and catch Barcelona out in the full-back positions – and this resulted in their best chance of the opening period. A long ball into the Barcelona left-back zone brought Pinto out of his goal to clear – then Ozil and Ronaldo worked a crossing opportunity, dragged Gerard Pique out of the back, and Pepe towered over Dani Alves to head against the post. Mourinho was by far the happier manager at half time.

Second half

It was strange, then, that in the second half Real appeared to press less keenly. This is natural as the game goes on (especially at this stage of the season, and when the game ends up going into extra time), and Real’s intensity did dip a little after around 15 minutes anyway. However, this seemed much more of a deliberate tactic, as if Real wanted Barcelona to come onto them more, in order to leave more space at the back to exploit.

The obvious danger in that strategy is that Barcelona imposed themselves on the game. Messi, almost anonymous in the opening period, started to become the game’s key player in his playmaking position, whilst Xavi and Andres Iniesta kept the ball much better, moving up the pitch and making Barca more of a threat.

Key battles

With the two sides matching each other in midfield – and this stand-off only altered when Messi came deep – it was difficult to see where a goal was going to come from. However, whilst the first half was so scrappy that it was hard to identify key battles, the second half had more of a set pattern.

Iniesta v Khedira was a promising contest. Khedira’s job was to close Iniesta down, but he was also the Real central midfielder who had a responsibility to get forward, so it seemed that a chance may be created with one of these players getting in behind the other.

Pedro moved from the right to the left and used his pace up against Arbeloa, cutting inside and hitting the ball into the side netting early on in the second period. His movement is much better than Villa’s, and this also opened up space for Adriano on the overlap – he caught Ozil sleeping a couple of times.

The formations after Adebayor replaced Ozil

Pedro also had the ball in the net later on, but it was disallowed for offside. Barcelona played with more width in the second half, and that event was classic Barcelona – a through ball between centre-back and full-back, for a wide forward coming inside.

That side of the pitch was the key battleground, and Ozil was replaced by Emmanuel Adebayor, with Ronaldo coming to the right. In basic terms this was an attacking move – introducing a true striker – but it also helped Real defensively. Ronaldo pinned back Adriano and Barcelona were less of a danger down that side.

This was the only substitution before Ronaldo’s goal, and for such a tight, cagey game, it was a surprise that neither manager utilised their bench more. Pedro’s switch to the left and then Ronaldo’s switch to the right were the most significant developments, but positionally, little changed amongst the rest of the players.

Extra time

Ronaldo up against Adriano was now the game’s key contest. He went very close to opening the scoring with a move that typified Real’s approach – Pepe put Xavi under pressure and helped win the ball, Alonso picked it up and hit a diagonal ball out to the flank, Ronaldo sped past Adriano and flashed a shot just wide.

Ronaldo eventually got the better of the Brazilian to score – but it was in the air, rather than on the ground. Angel di Maria got past Alves and lofted a cross to the far post, where Ronaldo produced a powerful header back across goal. It was very similar to Pepe’s effort in the first half, and has been a route of attack all season for Real - in Mourinho’s first home game against Osasuna, it was notable how Ronaldo and Benzema (fielded wide) came in from their flanks to provide an aerial threat at the far post.

Guardiola couldn’t change things at 1-0 down. David Villa was removed with Ibrahim Afellay on in his place, but Real were always likely to drop deep. Barcelona really needed more of a presence in the box, but Guardiola didn’t have a true physical striker at his disposal. Real weren’t really hanging on – they saw out the extra time period confidently.

Conclusion

A tactical victory for Mourinho – he used Pepe higher up the pitch, used Ronaldo as a striker, told his side to press in midfield early on, and disturbed Barcelona’s passing with a proactive attitude without the ball.

Barca were well on top between 45 and 70 minutes, but Real defended well in this period, with Pedro against Arbeloa looking likely to produce a goal.

Real’s main strategy was to get the ball wide quickly, and in producing three great chances through this route (the Pepe header and the two Ronaldo efforts in extra time), they probably created more true goalscoring opportunities than Barcelona.

I think the ZM writer gives Mourinho a little bit too much credit. I don’t think that it was “a deliberate tactic” to “press less keenly” in the second half. Real Madrid had simply run out of steam, and Mourinho had much luck that his strategy (to win the game through aggressiveness in the first half and then defend the lead with the whole team in the second half) did not fire back. So, it was not a tactical victory for Mourinho, but a very lucky victory. It was Casillas who won Real Madrid the game, not Mourinho’s crappy strategy.

Florian on April 21, 2011 at 12:28 pm

Maybe, but moving Pepe to CM was a very smart (and tactical) move.
I thought Marcelo played really well, even when matched up with Messi. His challenge and run also led to the goal.

Nick on April 21, 2011 at 12:56 pm

Yes, Marcelo was good defensively yesterday – but probably mostly because he always seemed to have one of the midfielders and Di Maria helping him out.

I thought Real were lucky not to concede in the second half. Their press dropped off alarmingly, and Barcelona had three great chances that against anyone other than Casillas would have been goals. In which case we’d be saying that Mourinhou’s decision to press so high in the first half was suicidal, because Real’s tired legs gave Barcelona far too much time on the ball in the second half.

I really do think Mourinho got lucky on this one.

david on April 21, 2011 at 3:41 pm

Marcelo had help, but considering that Barcelona usually creates numerical superiority in his zone with Messi cutting inside and Alves going forward (and Xavi who often joins them), said help only evend the odds so he only had to worry about Messi, which he did quite well.

Ivan on April 22, 2011 at 11:27 am

Once Pepe gets yellowed he cannot be as aggressive as he wants and Real Madrid’s midfield loses its ability to press, Khediera and Alonso are also very SLOW. Pepe made forward runs at the Santiago as well so for me that wasn’t a new tactic.

Archie_V on April 21, 2011 at 12:53 pm

I agree and disagree. Yes, luck played a big part on both sides – if Pedro hadn’t been a head offside Madrid would have been a goal down when they were looking almost as punch drunk and vulnerable as they were during the 5-0 pasting; Pepe hitting the post; providential fingertips from both Casillas and Pinto; Valdés fans may even argue that he would certainly have got a glove to the Ronaldo header that Pinto let through… – but I don’t think it’s fair to write off Mourinho’s approach as “crappy”. Sitting everyone behind the ball, pressing as hard and with as many people as you can, and as soon as you regain possession of the ball punting it upfield to Di Maria or Cristiano may not be subtle stuff, but several times this season other teams have shown it to be the only effective way of stifling Barcelona’s game, frustrating them, making them feel uncomfortable, and so increasing the chances of them being less accurate in their passing and more predictable in their moves.

There’s no dishonour or crappiness in doing your utmost to level the playing field and leaving the result to luck. Barcelona are very good at playing football – too good to try to take them on at their own game. Madrid already tried that in the first Liga clásico this season, and we all know how that turned out.

The worry for Mourinho, more than for Guardiola, is that luck runs both ways. If he knows his players are physically capable of stopping Barcelona in their tracks for sixty minutes, what are the chances that in the next match once you’re forced to relax the intensive pressing that a linesman won’t raise his flag or your goalkeeper won’t get his fingertips to a shot? Pretty high.

So, a tactical victory for Mourinho, yes, but after a very tough match on Saturday (away against Valencia, in 3rd place and red-hot form), it could end up as a Pyrrhic one. Even with the home advantage on Wednesday, I think he’s going to wonder whether his team will cope again once they run out of petrol early in the second half.

Gabriel on April 21, 2011 at 1:51 pm

We’ll see, Mourinho seems to have a Team B in the League now, especially during these times. Just look at the Athletic game. Remember that Kaka, Higuain, Granero, Benzema were benched.

Karthik on April 21, 2011 at 3:34 pm

And – surely Wednesday’s CL home game will be different – Real will score three goals and atleast two in the first half – Mark my words.

ProFF7 on April 22, 2011 at 5:34 am

Marked. For doing that Madrid would have to attack. I will come back in the very unlikely (ha, ha) event that you miss your prediction

uncelsam on April 21, 2011 at 1:12 pm

It seemed like a deliberate tactic. Why would they press for 45 minutes straight and then completely stop pressing? They were obviously not tired, Di María and Ronaldo kept running the whole game, Marcelo and Arbeloa didn’t make many forward runs and shouldn’t have been tired. Khedira, yeah perhaps, he runs a lot but it’s because he’s capable to run.

And yes, Mourinho’s strategy won the game for Madrid. Casillas made some good saves, but nothing miracelous compared to his usual standard. Barcelona created three chances that were truly dangerous (not counting the offside because well it was offside after all), Madrid created five, six even seven perhaps.

Zero on April 21, 2011 at 2:11 pm

I think that it’s not really particularly reasonable to say that the game was simply a matter of luck when Madrid had more good chances than Barcelona, and by a fairly significant amount. However, I do like the implications of the statement that Mourinho managed this with a ‘crappy tactic’; it’s probably more offensive to Barcelona than to Mourinho himself.

Nick on April 21, 2011 at 3:34 pm

But even though Real won, by dropping off more in midfield they let Barcelona dominate the game both in possession and chances. In the first half, Madrid were far more dangerous, and Barcelona had hardly any good chances. If it had ended at half time, Real would have been deserved winners (had they scored a goal that is). But I felt Mourinho’s tactics in the second half allowed Barcelona back in, and that ultimately he was lucky none of those chances went in – otherwise we’d be talking about how his half time team talk had cost Real the game!

plyka on April 21, 2011 at 6:46 pm

The only “lucky” part of that game was Pepe’s header not going in. I have never seen such an event, it bounced off the INSIDE of the post and didn’t go in. It actually bounced off the inside of the post and then ran accross goal. Has anyone ever seen something like that? 99 times out of a 100 that would have went in.

Barca had 3 good chances in the 2nd half, they had 0 chances (and zero shots on goal) in the 1st half. Iker made one extraordinary save and that was the Iniesta shot accross goal. Other than that stop, any goal keeper in the world would have stopped the rest.

On the other hand Ronaldo had a dreadful game with a dreadful first touch. You could tell the nerves were reakin havoc. On a normal night, he may have had a hatrick.

I dont think it was a tactic too. If it was a tactic, then Mourinho got bloody lucky. Because the saviour during this period turned out to be Casillas. If not for the brilliance of Iker, Barca would have scored 2/3 playing on Mou’s tactic.

Before the game anyone could have predicted Madrid’s tactics. Mourinho was always going to defend – using Real’s superior strength in midfield to disjoint Barcelona’s superior quality.

But we must credit Mourinho for fielding Pepe in the destroyer role (Nigel De Jong, Micheal Essien-esque poistion)his contribution was key to this tie.

The rest is down to the players. They all played well as a team, everyone stuck to their task and they, of course, needed a bit of luck to come through as winners.

robby on April 25, 2011 at 10:14 pm

cipo i cannot agree with u more. it seems most English football site have very strong bond with mou, not suprising anyway. when mou loses the credit goes to the players of the other team not the coach but wen mou wins he takes all the credit not his players.

cja on April 21, 2011 at 12:19 pm

The diagram shows Valdes in goal. (ok now it shows Pinto but I don’t think I can delete my comment.)

Jago on April 21, 2011 at 12:20 pm

Didn’t watch the game.This is almost as good as watching it.Bring on Champions League!

i am in love with mourinho. i want to be him because i’m in love with him. baby baby baby ohh…

LOL on April 21, 2011 at 3:24 pm

LOLage!

K on April 21, 2011 at 3:30 pm

lol so much for a ‘football philosopher’

lame on April 21, 2011 at 3:33 pm

You are not funny – this guy should be banned. This is defamation of character and impersonation is identity theft – both of which are illegal in most countries. You must be from a lawless land like Lybia or Turkey to get away with this.

first, a punctual thing: you say that Pinto was instead of Valdes, and that is true, but in all the graphics and later in the article it appears Valdes.

then, in the 2nd half, when Barcelona had its 20 minutes of Barcelona-game, i also noticed that dani alves used to come in central midfield positions and that there was also a lot more movement of Busquets: he went further up the pitch while Xavi dropped back and had more time on the ball. it seemed to me that this also contributed to thier good spell, they had more bodies in midfield who were also very fluid with their positions. so it was not only that Real deliberately let them play their game.

i wonder what you think about it.

Nick on April 21, 2011 at 1:00 pm

Yes, Xavi and Busquets seemed to swap positions for a good chunk of the second half. What with Messi pushed out wide right (i.e. forced into more attacking areas rather than dropping deep), Barcelona looked a whole lot more fluent. Allied with Real’s relaxing of their press, it gave Xavi and Iniesta much more time to beat a couple of men in midfield before playing the pass.

Stewie325 on April 21, 2011 at 12:30 pm

Do you think Real’s formation resembled more of a 4-6-0, as there was no true striker?

Also, interesting to see Mourinho had saved this tactic for the final.

Well Ronaldo did stay up top and played like a striker, so I would say no.

BTW ZM, any chance for a North London Derby write up? That was a great game, much better than this, and not just because of the many goals. Watched both of them late, knowing the score, and the NLD was a pleasure to watch.

Mati on April 21, 2011 at 1:58 pm

nothing new…Mourinho will use the same tactics with a slight alteration in my opinion. he could switch the positions of the front trio, with Ozil being central, C. Ronaldo on the right & Angelito on the left. again, Di Maria will help Marcelo defend, but I also think Ozil will drop deeper to create a diaamond midfield with no strikers, but 2 very advanced wingers instead! its almost a mirror of Barcelona’s shape when Messi drops to recieve, creating a 4 v 4 situation, which could be made narrow even if Dani advances, as Di Maria will cover him.

again, it will be a game of action & reaction. I’d love Guardiol to try this though for the champions:

Pep is an admirer of Ricardo La Volpe, & I’ve heard he has a good understanding of the fluid 3 to 4 to 5 man defence system. this will work best if Madrid play with the no striker system they’ve tried recently…the possibilities with this exceptional Barcekona generation!!

too bad i didn’t watch this game last night, however; why didn’t pep try to use messi in his old right wing position? haven’t watched marcelo playing for a long time, have he improved a lot in defending?

Nick on April 21, 2011 at 12:50 pm

He did. In the second half, more often than not it was Pedro on the left, Villa at cf and Messi on the right.

mugi-chan on April 21, 2011 at 4:25 pm

Really thought Barça looked most threatening with that rearranged forward line in the second half — got him away from that logjam in the center of the field. Messi hasn’t played much RW, if any, at all this year, eh?

I am quite impressed with Marcelo. This is the player which managers feared to start at LB in important games just a couple of seasons back. Now he’s pretty much one of their most important players, as important IMO as Ramos. And IMO as good, if not better at fullback as Ramos is. Better attacker at least, and defends as well.

Nick on April 21, 2011 at 1:02 pm

More important than Ramos, I think. Great partnership with Ronaldo / Di Maria, contributes about ten times as much in attack, and, unlike Ramos, doesn’t look like getting sent off every match. But then he doesn’t have to do quite as much defending as Ramos…

Mati on April 21, 2011 at 4:22 pm

Marcelo has by far been one of Madrid’s best & most important performers this season, but trust me, he has a long way to go before we can say, “OK, now he can defend!”. ofcourse he is better than he used to be, when he was claiming that his defending wasn’t a weakness, but rather his attacking instinct a virtue. Madrid as team defend better now, as a compact unit, with everyone clear on what their roles & duties are. with Pellegrini, they couldn’t get that the numbers didn’t matter as long as you defend right!

not taking anything away from the kid, (el Diego reckons he’s La Liga’s 3rd best player…Borja Valero anyone?) as I think he will eventually be Brazil’s LB if Fabio doesn’t step up already (!!!!!)

Mano on April 22, 2011 at 10:14 am

He is already Menezes’ first choice LB, he has been unlucky with small injuries though (against Scotland).

Mati on April 23, 2011 at 5:00 pm

Mano likes “his guys”, he coached Andre Santos at Corinthians, so he’s untouchable in the squad at the moment. Marcelo would have been experimented vs Scotland, but as you said, injury prevented that from happening. any other Brazilian left back deserves the no.6 shirt in the Selecao at the moment other than Marcelo?? think not

Was Valencia a site of some great medieval battle? I felt as if I was watching one of those battle re-enactments. Feisty. Well, dirty more like it. Not a great advertisement for Spanish club football. Both teams did everything to get their opponents booked or sent off, tonnes of cynical fouling. Some truly shocking stuff. Still it was a tense and at times exciting affair.
Tactically playing Pepe further forward worked very well IMO. Not sure why Maurinho would let his team to sit back a bit more in the second half. Perhaps because he believed Barca were off in this game and Real could handle them? If so he was proved right. Shocking that after spending well over 100 million euros Barcelona have no proper substitute for Villa. He was truly bad. Adriano got away with a lot against Ronaldo, as did Arbeloa against either Villa, Iniesta or Pedro. Still, for all the praise of Maurinho’s tactics that is surely to come, Real were able to win thanks to some stunning saves from Cassilas. And that means even and off form Barcelona are still able to threaten a team of Real’s quality.
While Real won and have a great deal to be happy about, I am still not convinced. When the CL comes, I think Barca will prevail. Real seem to have played to the best of their abilities, while Barca can surely improve their performances.

faker on April 21, 2011 at 2:13 pm

I agree it was a dirty game, but the vast majority of it by Real. These were Mourinho’s tactics: Kick them into submission. This is what Chelsea did a couple of years ago in the CL semi. With a soft ref they can get away with it. With a proper one they’ll end up with 10 men within half an hour.

Oh, Barca did their fair share of kicking and cheating. They are not saints either.
Which Chelsea series are you talking about though? Surely not the one when Chelsea got cheated out of the final?

kaveh on April 22, 2011 at 12:04 am

Barca fans are truly delusional,lol. Perhaps you missed biscuits coming studs up waist high into xabi? Straight red offence. And of course their traditional diving antics plus crowding the ref. The most disgraceful diving of course was mashetano when he got ade a yellow card. Ade did not even touch him, masch grabs his face and collapses to the ground in utter trauma. A joke of a performance. It reminded me of biscuits and his dive to get motta sent off in last years semis of the cl. Just horrible and disgraceful actions.

Ryan on April 22, 2011 at 6:14 am

Busquets’ diving truly is horrible to see, especially since he seemed to have toned it down for the past few months. Let’s not forget Pepe’s propensity to stomp on Messi though. If you’re going to talk about reds, RM should have seen it first.

datschge on April 23, 2011 at 8:19 pm

RM did see the first red.

Elwood on April 21, 2011 at 3:45 pm

Yes, I was very surprised at how Arbeloa and Ramos treated Villa, they’re international team-mates after all, and has won Euro and the World-Cup together.

I think Madrid dropped off in the second half because Barcelona were playing more offensively and maybe Madrid felt there’ll be more space left behind for them to exploit with the pace of Ronaldo, and I think it worked well.

Alba on April 21, 2011 at 4:17 pm

Surprised? Villa did a pathetic and shameful attempt to foul the referee. A stupid act, as if he was hit by them and you pretend not to be angry? Barca “pure” and “honest” playing. Bollocks.

Footballfan on April 21, 2011 at 4:27 pm

I don’t think so. Arbeloa should have been red carded for stamping on Villa.I saw the replay about 3 times. The stamp was far from accidental

Alba on April 21, 2011 at 4:33 pm

I saw the incident 100 times since Sky Sport keep repeating it since this morning. What can I say, the stamps stays in the eay of the beholder then:) I have no prove other that the one showed on video, therefore can not prove you wrong or viceversa.

Elwood on April 21, 2011 at 4:29 pm

I did not meant the fracas afterwards, it was a genuine stamp on Villa by Arbeloa.

Diverinho on April 21, 2011 at 7:52 pm

He actually was intentionally stamped by Arbeloa. But that was only visible in the replays. At least that is my interpretation of it. Had I been the referee and seen the replay during the match I’d have red-carded Arbeloa.

You know what i would have red carded Arbeloa for? For telling Ramos to stay down and pretend he is hurt late in the game. Ramos was fouled and ready to get up, Arbeloa run over to him and pushed him down and Ramos then proceeded to stay on the ground for a few more seconds. I truly hate that. And every Barcelona player should have been booked for telling the ref to book Real players, and vice versa, that’s another thing I despise about football.

kaveh on April 22, 2011 at 12:09 am

barca fans are truly despicable, can’t win anything unless you get someone sent off and are allowed to play 11 vs 10, lol. Your name is diverihno correct? Named after your team I see,lol.

Diverinho on April 22, 2011 at 3:42 pm

Dear kaveh. I am not a Barca fan, neither am I a Madrid fan. (Actually I was favouring Madrid in that game). I am simply a football fan as such, and Barcelona and Madrid are interesting teams to watch at the moment. My name in this forum is diverinho (i know, copy’n'pasting is even more difficult than reading and writing), and I chose it not because I like players that dive, but because I think it sounds funny.
I have a strong sense of ‘justice’ when it comes to football, and this is why I do not like unfair play in general, and I am ususally quite pissed off when referees do not see/punish unfair play. In the game we are talking about there was a lot of unfair play by both teams, just to be clear. As it happened the discussion was about the Arbeloa/Villa incident, were it first looked like that Villa was pretending having been fouled, so that Ramos and Arbeloa force-lifted him up on his feet. In a certain replay, however, it was obvious that Arbeloa had intentionally stamped him on the leg – red card imo. I am not denying that Barca players indeed did do some diving and pretending, as for example late Mascherano vs Adebayor, which should have been yellow for Masch rather than Adebayor.
Which brings me to my general point that a football field without access to replays is way to big for any referee to see all those tons of dirty things that happen during such a match – but that is another story.
Maybe you find the time to look up the particular Arbeloa incident on youtube, and if you are just 10% sane you will come to the same conclusion that that was malevolent intention.

mugi-chan on April 21, 2011 at 4:28 pm

Bojan is injured (for the rest of the season), but your point about the lack of forward depth still stands.

Milos on April 21, 2011 at 12:50 pm

There is a mistake in the second chart. Puyol didnt play yesterday

airwalk on April 21, 2011 at 12:56 pm

Can someone please explain to me in detail why mourinho took Özil off? In my eyes he was by far the best player in the first half, taking part in almost every promising attack and playing some wonderful passes and crosses.
Of course its hard to question mourinho as it all paid out late, but when i saw Adebayor coming in the last person i imagined to go off was Özil.

George on April 21, 2011 at 1:23 pm

Well Di Maria was too busy dealing with Alves and you can’t pull Ronaldo off, he’s the star.

Diverinho on April 21, 2011 at 2:20 pm

Özil indeed was very good, although he kind-of screwed up a few very nice counters in the beginning of the first half. I think he was substituted because he was too tired…

Elwood on April 21, 2011 at 3:49 pm

Yes, I think it was because of tiredness as well, if not I think Mourinho would’ve subbed him far later in the game. Or maybe to provide a better physical presence upfront to hold the ball better when Barcelona were dominated the second half. Ronaldo’s pace and power, and di Maria’s work-rated was needed, I’m not surprised Oezil was the one taken off.

uncelsam on April 21, 2011 at 4:27 pm

Well, Özil does have his fitness problems. He usually gets tired after 60-70 minutes and in this game he covered Adriano’s run decently as well so he had to use even more energy so he was tired which affected his ability to make runs and also his concentration (a couple of misplaced passes that he normally never misses).

The way the game was heading also didn’t suit Özil’s playing style at all. Özil is more comfortable when his team is attacking, like Madrid did after going down 0-1 last Saturday and during the first half of yesterdays game. That’s Özil’s optimal game, countering at pace with two-four players alongside him that give him multiple choices and causes confusion for the opponents. When he faces two or three players at once, he can’t hold on to the ball. He’s not a Kaká-style dribbler, nor a player that can hold on to the ball forever like Zidane so when he’s surrounded and isolated he’s not really usuable.

LemonadeMoney on April 21, 2011 at 12:57 pm

You watched the wrong game last night! Any chance of a review of the NLD?

Mark on April 21, 2011 at 12:59 pm

Fantastic analysis.

Mourinho really is a tactical genius, stating the obvious, but he just really is.

Τ.Ν.Τ. on April 21, 2011 at 1:04 pm

1)Is dirty “off the ball” behaviour a part of tactic we should celebrate?
Cauz you really cannot discuss tactics when some players are bullied and kicked by others..
First half was a football disgrace, a combat demonstration, nothing to do with football.. And of course 2nd half slow down was not a deliberate tactic from murinho.. How much energy should they have for this “kick, hit and run” battle?
Disappointed that Marc did not mentioned that..

2)I dont understand all this praise t Murinho for employing what almost every small side does against great teams.. Physical challenge, and what else? apart from pressuring with every possible means, the pattern was ludicrously simple: hit long (and sometimes blind) balls out wide, and if it works, ok… The fact that madrid won does not say anything.. History of Football is abund of such examples

Yes. Plus, his off feild tactics too. Can any nuetral say that the Ref called his decisions yesterday straight away. Because of Mou, the ref must have thought at least thrice before every foul.

Otter on April 21, 2011 at 1:41 pm

I’m surprised your point 1 hasn’t been mentioned as a tactic–it has become so common in Mourinho vs. Barca games to see his players grab, impede, or knock down Barca players just after they make a pass so they can’t move to receive the next pass (with referees who notice it almost always playing “advantage” even though it’s the defender who gains), that I assumed it was something he coached them to do. It works, and as long as the refs allow it, it will continue to be a crucial part of Mourinho’s game plan.

Alba on April 21, 2011 at 1:47 pm

and here we go with “anti-football” and “off the ball, parking the bus” bla bla bla laments all over again. Same as last year.
You are becoming ridicolous, pathetic and very tiresome people. Change the music, change the instruments. Stop crying every time you loose.
Excuses!Excuses!Excuses!

Gabriel on April 21, 2011 at 1:53 pm

Busquets was kicking like crazy in the first half, what about Adebayor’s “aggression” against Mascherano. Trying to get another red card, just like against Inter.

Steve on April 21, 2011 at 2:54 pm

Precisely. I don’t understand why so many people are so quick to blame Real(and specifically Mou) for his ‘cheating anti-football tactics’. Barcelona were absoloutely disgraceful at times, as they have been in many big matches recently. Busquets is one of the worth cheaters around and the less said about Mascherano the better.

Dominic Yusoff on April 21, 2011 at 4:25 pm

And what off Pepe with his fascination for Messi’s ankle? Yes Barca players also attempted some dirty tactics but if the ref was fair both teams should have been down to at least 10

Alba on April 21, 2011 at 4:28 pm

Because it’s the one who has higher chance to beat them, and because they lost the CL last year against his team and they are crying since then.
Because defense according to them is ugly,in fact it should be eliminated – hope Inter against Schalke was enough positive and beautiful football for them – and because attacking&playing beautiful means keeping the ball and dribble. There is one way to see and enjoy the game and that should be theirs.
Fanatics!

Zero on April 21, 2011 at 5:05 pm

One wonders what these people would think of Claudio Gentile.

hesp on April 21, 2011 at 5:42 pm

He was quite gentleman compared to Pepe or Busquets.

Alba on April 21, 2011 at 7:00 pm

They’ll eat him alive:) Although to be fair, Gentile never injured anyone during his entire career.

Bernardo on April 21, 2011 at 1:08 pm

Wouldn’ Pepe deserve an arrow up in the charts?
He was a constant presence advancing into Barcelona’s box (much more than Khedira).

Mark on April 21, 2011 at 1:09 pm

Also, any other’s think that defensive back four looked so much better than the one on Saturday? They defended well at the weekend, but I’m not totally convinced by Albiol, and last night I thought Ramos and Carvalho were an immense partnership, and I really think Ramos is a better CB than RB, and it annoys me when people say he can’t defend.

Also, Marcelo gets associated with being the rampaging full back who can’t actually defend, when in fact Marcelo has improved massively as a defender.

Elwood on April 21, 2011 at 4:24 pm

It’s not that Ramos can’t defend, he’s tall, strong, quick, and good in the air, but I feel that his aggression, energy, and stamina is wasted in centre-back where those qualities are not allowed to shine. Plus, I think he lacks the composure, and positional sense to be a true top, top centre-back. Of course, if the first-choice centre-backs are not available for whatever reason, and you feel Arbeloa is a better defender than Garay, like in this case, then by all means play Ramos at CB, he will not disappoint you.

Mano on April 22, 2011 at 2:32 pm

I think so too. Ramos is overrated as a right back, his positioning there is often poor which is why he picks up so many bookings every season. He’s not that good crosser either. He’s much better as a CB, probably Mourinho thinks so too, but since RM have Pepe and Carvalho, he doesn’t play there too often.

George on April 21, 2011 at 1:12 pm

Football is such a beautiful game some times. Great tactical game from both teams. Pepe in midfield was an excellent move. My thoughts:
-Khedira lost vs Iniesta. Huge gap in quality between them.
-Fantastic game for Di Maria who ran like mad to cover the runs of Alves. Fantastic work between him and Marcelo to cover their left side. When defending, if the game was on their right side, Marcelo was checking Alves’s position every 2 seconds.
-Villa is so out of form.
-In the second half Pique was going up the field so often, it had to be a strategy from Pep, as he was always unmarked.
-It’s really not fair for the Real team that Ronaldo scored. They worked so hard as a team to press and defend, and Ronaldo was the worst on the pitch. Poor first touch, very poor passing, no pressing, not so great positioning on the field. Lost some good balls. And then he scores and he’s suddenly the hero. Not fair I think, this victory was 99% the teamwork.
Oh, and Mourinho is very talented as an actor, he should be on Broadway with all this theatrics )

jan on April 21, 2011 at 1:22 pm

Can Mourinho do anything wrong for the writer? Even if they’re totally dominated in the second half, and look like some 400-billion third division team, it’s all part of “a deliberate tactic”. This is starting to get predictable and ridiculous, honestly.

What Mourinho does best is turning on brainless players liks Ramos, Arbeloa, Carvalho or Pepe, so they become fighting machines. And Spanish referees these days allow that kind of anti-football, pressured as they are by the Madrid press.

Said that, balanced game, that could go either way. That Madrid won had nothing to do with tactics but with luck. If Barcelona would have won, it would have been the same. In yesterday’s game.

Diverinho on April 21, 2011 at 2:31 pm

I agree with you on the “deliberate tactics” issue. I also had the impression that Madrid was simply getting more tired in the second half and could not do their intense pressing anymore. But I disagree with you that Madrid were “totally dominated”. I mean, this was just a standard Barca passing-possession-performance which you can see against any other team for the majority of time. And usually they manage to produce more goal-scoring opportunities against other teams. But agreed, in total the game was balanced.

some guy on April 21, 2011 at 2:31 pm

carvalho brainless? try one of the greatest defensive minds of his generation. he’s not quick or tall and yet he’s still one of the best CBs in the world.

Kevin on April 21, 2011 at 7:16 pm

These are the kinds of comments that stem from deep prejudices. “Turning on Brainless players like Ramos, Arbeloa, Carvalho, or Pepe” — from all accounts of the various people that have managed Carvalho and Arbeloa, they are wonderfully intelligent footballers and both are not the most athletic defenders, yet they cope very well on the field due to their positioning and tactical acumen.

To say that they are brainless because they play a more physical game is absolute stupidity. There are plenty of teams that have played Barcelona this year, and 95% of those teams have not gotten the result they’ve wanted. The Madrid defenders managed to stifle the world’s best attacking options for 120 minutes. There’s nothing brainless about that, and there’s nothing that a coach can do to make a player that much more tactically aware to produce this kind of outcome.

kaveh on April 22, 2011 at 12:21 am

You are wasting your breath. With barca fans they have a line up of excuses ready for when they lose. They are the sore losers of legend and its not just their fans. Last year when inter beat them, their team turns on sprinklers,lol. This is the type of people we are talking about.

Barca fan excuses when they lose:

We didn’t care
The other team cheated
The ref cheated because they forced us to play 11 v 11
The other team defended in a manner we don’t like, they should have left their defense pourous

I probably missed some but those are the basics.

Apasu on April 22, 2011 at 12:51 pm

“The ref cheated because they forced us to play 11 v 11″. Lmao.

ksk on April 23, 2011 at 1:03 am

its the same stuff arsenal fans say when they lose and more

hwk on April 21, 2011 at 1:26 pm

A lot Real and Barça supporters talk now, I will leave that to them. Of course ther is something to talk about, it was the clasico…

I just hope, that Barça will win the next match so Real has to attack. One or two games with this tactics are okay, but not three or four.

But it will be an exciting time Barça has to face some competition. They may call Roger Federer and ask him what do do if you are no longer invincible.

Taijin_Kyofusho on April 21, 2011 at 1:35 pm

Ok I am going to commit a faux pas here.I’m not a real football connaisseur but I would swear that Messi in the second half was playing as a right winger with license to come in as often as possible(somewhat the same way as he was playing last season),while Villa was moved to the centre forward position.This seemed to be the formation that caused Real most of the problems.I do believe though that Real’s lack of pressing in the second half was completely deliberate.Having pressed so intensely in the first half and actually being the best team,they needed their legs for a possible extra time.Was it a risky decision?Of course but it’s a manager’s decision.He makes it,you go along with it and just hope it works.Mourinho’s approach was good.He didn’t pull any rabbit out of the hat.He played against Barcelona the only way that another team can play in order to have the most chances to win and that is mostly defensively.On the other hand I don’t think that Guardiola’s decision making was particularly correct.Playing Messi on the right was a good choice but what else?Villa was visibly off and it seems that Pep really doesn’t trust Bojan,his only other realistic option regarding that position.Afellay’s introduction was a big risk that didn’t pay off eventually, since Messi was moved back in the false nine role and stopped being as effective.Afellay has been with the team for only 3 months and he’s put in the most important 15 minutes of the game.I cannot blame him for not performing.
All in all it was a classic final.Yes it’s a cliche but the 2 best teams of the world played a typical final.Lots of dirty and hard fouling,lots of passion,close calls and only one goal to decide the winner.As always these games the details make the difference.So it was neither a big Mourinho tactical win nor an unfair Barcelona loss.It was good old final between two very good teams.I for one enjoyed it very much

Diverinho on April 21, 2011 at 2:36 pm

Bojan is injured. I think Pep would have liked to field him…

Taijin_Kyofusho on April 21, 2011 at 3:39 pm

Didn’t know that.Pep really had no choice then…

rawr on April 21, 2011 at 4:53 pm

I think Real would like to see Bojan on the field too.

Eddy on April 21, 2011 at 1:37 pm

ZM, I have a simple question: if you were Guardiola, what would have you done?

There are a lot of oh’s and ah’s about Madrid and Mourinho but If the Portuguese uses this tactic against other big teams then I don’t see them fare any better than Barcelona.

I agree with you. I havent seen any team looking great against a team with 7-9 defenders.

Diverinho on April 21, 2011 at 2:47 pm

This argumentation scheme is so old-fashioned. Do you think that in modern football the “defenders” defend, the “strikers” strike, and the “midfielders” only ever get involved when the ball happens to be in midfield?
Madrid did not play 7-9 “defenders” yesterday, but simply 11 players that played as a unit. That means when Barca had the ball, all of the Madrid players were involved in preventing Barca to score and to finally get back the ball (remember the 5:0 clasico, where Ronaldo, Benzema and Oezil simply did not do anything when Barca had the ball). No magic and no stone-age tactics neither.
This is also the reason why most teams look horrible against Barcelona – because they defend with 11 players (pressing, keeping possession, everybody involved).
In case no-one noticed yet, it is always good to have all players involved in what the team is doing at a time, be it defending or attacking.

Marvel on April 21, 2011 at 3:01 pm

So your point is that both teams should ‘park the bus’?

DOF on April 21, 2011 at 4:52 pm

So basically RM finding their new Makele (and a box to box one notheless) in Pepe is really the big deal.
I think Barca is also tired after all those great victories and simply lacks energy right now (just like Leonardo’s Inter).

There’s tactics in football, and there strategy (player fatigue management thru the season and various competitions).

Diverinho on April 21, 2011 at 5:03 pm

Well, that is what they are doing. Barcelona usually is (deliberately) parking the bus in the other team’s half, though. And their bus got a different colour, but that’s about it.
In principle you should be doing what enables you to win the match. If that requires you to get ~11 players behind the ball in order to regain possession and stifle the other team’s attacking threat meanwhile you sure should do so.

Zero on April 21, 2011 at 5:26 pm

I agree that the rigidity of categories such as striker, defender and midfielder which seems to be presupposed in the accusation of Madrid having ‘7-9 defenders’ is an anachronism at best. In fact, the rigid division between ‘defence’ and ‘offence’ also seems misleading. A ‘purely’ defensive or offensive formation may be utilized in, say, the last few minutes of a match, but otherwise defence and offence are essentially interconnected. If one plays one’s defence in a certain way, it allows one to attack in a different way; a defensive team would greatly enjoy it if their opponent did not come onto them at all in offence, but if a team plays a fast, direct and vertical attack, and seeks to take advantage of this by allowing the opponent to attack relentlessly before getting the ball and taking advantage of the available space, this doesn’t seem at all ‘defensive’. It would seem more ‘defensive’ to simply stop the opponent from having the ball, whereas allowing them to attack would necessarily imply a risk taken in order to bolster one’s own attack; conversely, a ‘defensive’ side will generally only allow the opponent to attack out of necessity, rather than as part of any offensive intent.

supermadridsta on April 21, 2011 at 1:56 pm

Mourinho doesnt need to use this tactic against any other team in the world. Real Madrid are side that is good on the ball and they play direct attacking football. Against Barca only they dont have the capacity to maintain enough possession to play in their natural way , we saw that in the 5-0.

Real did the first half. Barca did the second half and then went down again in the extra time.

What surprises me ZM, is that, Pep was sure about 7/8 man defences for RM, ever since the first classico, as that worked very well for Madrid. Still, at least in the first half, it looked like Barca didnt had done any home work to over run that. Did Pep expect RM to play a different game than the Apr 16 th classico. I dont understand. A bit shocking actually.

He did seem to have a good talk in the half time that Barca was more like Barca in the second half, but then Casillas raised his game too.

Again, really bad form for Villa. on his day, he would have easily scored that rebound from the Messi shot. It was actually a very bad day for Ronaldo as well. But he got the praises for the hard work of his team mates. Marcelo and De Maria were excellent for Real.

I dont have any doubt how Mou will play on the CL first leg. But will Pep try to make some new plan?

Mou’s greatest tactic, is definitely his press meets before the game and his acting while on the bench.

For all the Barcelona greatness there is no real plan B.
Just what tactically can he do differently? Well he can play with 3 CBs and have Alves as a proper offensive wingback one one side and Pedro on the other. But that’s about it. Barca’s success comes down to the players and their form. Whether or not Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, or Villa are on form they will always play possession and passing football. They can not press any higher than they do now, and they co not know how to play deep and try to counter, it does not suit them at all. Pep can switch Keita and Busquets, or Mascherano. Or switch Iniesta and Messi. But Barca wont and cant’, play any differently than they do always. There will be no major philosophical change like Real, when they went to a defensive system as opposed to what they usually play.
It just would not work for Barca. They have been very successful with what they always do, there is not need to change. They can only hope that both Xavi and Villa play better than they have. And Messi and Iniesta to a lesser extent.

NC on April 21, 2011 at 1:56 pm

Ibra was brought in for a plan B but it didn’t work so well. I’m guessing Llorente will be that plan B.

Eddy on April 21, 2011 at 2:09 pm

Barcelona do rely on their players form. That’s absolutely true. And I fear that it’s also our biggest weakness. Why? Substitutions. I’m a big fan of Barcelona but for a club that many consider one of the best in the history they truly have a coach, a great one, no doubt about it, who relies too much on his top players. Imagine if he had used Bojan, Keita, Thiago or others more often, he would have had more options, more on form and FRESH players. If his team is leading 3:0 and it’s past 60 minutes he Should start making substitutions. But Pep doesen’t do that. It’s not like he has low class fringe players. I would have been very happy if I’d seen Iniesta, Xavi, Thiago, and Messi against Real Madrid yesterday(use ultra creativity against ultra defence or smth) but I didn’t. And I’m very saddened by that.

Footballfan on April 21, 2011 at 4:45 pm

Barca did have a plan B. Notice in the second half they cut down on build up play and Xavi and Iniesta making more intense runs at the RM midfield which put them under pressure and open more chances for Barca. Pedro’s goal should have counted – the buildup was good and he was at worse a few mm offside. Compare tht to Berba’s goal against Fulham – goal scored in similar position. As a Man U fan I would be happy if Man U face Barca in the Champions League final – Man U has all the right ingredients to beat Barca – good wing players( Barca’s soft spot is down the flank which was glaringly revealed throughout the game) and good pressers in Darren Fletcher provided he doesn’t get suspended again. AgaiSlog nst Real – well just have to be patient. Slog it out with them in midfield and don’t go for goal until they tire , prepare for penalty shootouts and observe for their weaknesses in set pieces

Footballfan on April 21, 2011 at 4:49 pm

AgaiSlog nst Real – spelling error – shld have been “Against Real”

kaveh on April 22, 2011 at 12:33 am

You just admitted that pedro was offsides and then claimed that the goal should have counted, lol. It there no end to this barca fan madness?

Footballfan on April 22, 2011 at 11:00 am

Kaveh pls read my comment carefully. I did not say Pedro was offside and claimed the goal should have counted. I said that Pedro was AT WORSE a few mm offside which the ref should have given a benefit of doubt and counted the goal

Mano on April 22, 2011 at 2:48 pm

How can you say Pedro’s goal should have counted? He was not “at worse a few mm offside”, he was clearly offside. No matter how good the buildup was, lol.

Footballfan on April 22, 2011 at 3:13 pm

Alright maybe I saw it wrongly.

Clarence on April 21, 2011 at 1:46 pm

Once again Guardiola has been completely outwitted by Mourinho. Why did’t he change the formation to 4-2-4 when he knew Barca couldn’t break the centre?

Eddy on April 21, 2011 at 1:52 pm

I ask you, how can you outwit a manager who uses such ultra defensive tactics? Use the same tactic against him?

NC on April 21, 2011 at 1:58 pm

Haha, so you think there’s no way to adapt to Madrid’s tactics?

Sometimes I wonder if people think tactics are just about being defensive or offensive. You’d imagine that reading this website would educate them. But I guess not.

Eddy on April 21, 2011 at 2:11 pm

Then, educate me. I insist. What would have you done?

NC on April 21, 2011 at 2:26 pm

I’m no ZM (he’s the one that educates me!), but I assure you that there are always ways of adapting to any tactic.

I think the main problem is that the thinness of Barcelona’s bench in terms of forwards doesn’t give him much options. A player like Llorente would definitely help.

As for the chink in Barcelona’s armor, it could be the RB. When danger came, it came from there. Pique’s runs forward also created some confusion and threw Madrid a bit off. It’s obviously risky, though. It’s definitely not easy to see how Pep could go about this, but it wasn’t easy to see how Mourinho would turn the tables. It wasn’t just the defensiveness of Madrid but the mobility of the defenders. You often saw Pepe and Khedira tracking a player very deep and the other compensated.

Pep finally has a challenge. He can keep his tactics and still be marginally favourite (IMO) or he can pull a rabbit out of his hat and leave Madrid in the dust. Interesting times.

NC on April 21, 2011 at 2:35 pm

Sorry, I meant the chink in Real’s armor.

Eddy on April 21, 2011 at 2:55 pm

Thanks. But we had Ibra, do you think Llorente would make the difference? Was it the mentality of the Swedish striker that led to his downfall? And as I remember, against Inter he actually slowed down our attacks and made us less dangerous.

And Alves might be the biggest defencive reliability in our team but he’s also one of our deadliest weapons as well. Tell him to be more careful, Barcelona might become less frightful in attack. And then there’s the Marcelo and Di Maria problem. If Alves doesn’t attack that side, they would attack them, making Madrid’s left side more dangerous.

I respect Guardiola, I think he’s one of the best coaches out there, but I don’t think he has the guts to make Mou-like decisions. I hope I’m wrong.

PCD on April 21, 2011 at 3:04 pm

move busquets further forward (possibly switching with xavi, if pepe was assigned to mark xavi out of the game then focus play on left, and shift team left)

Result:
Khedeira either leaves Iniesta to Ozil, or follows him to the Barcelona Left Wing, freeing space in the centre for busquets (an excelltent passer of the ball) to exploit

OR
Kheidera stays in the middle, Ozil picks up iniesta (bad for Real, as he is a worse defensive player, and real are relying him to link play with the threat of alves on the right wing)

Simples

NC on April 21, 2011 at 3:05 pm

I agree, Alves attacking is key to Barcelona’s tactic. It was a typo, I meant Real’s RB seemed exploitable.

Pep is an amazing coach drilling the team into a system. Probably the best around. But he’s not seemed comfortable when he tried to tinker.

Llorente worked very well for Spain against Portugal. When he came in he caused all sorts of trouble. Him in the center and Villa on the left for Pedro (and drifting inside) would be something I expect Madrid could have trouble with.

Ibra as a plan B ultimately failed, but on paper it seemed a good choice. Now we know there were tensions between him and Pep, that could have been a major issue. Another plan B I could think of is Eto’o but I’m guessing that door is closed now.

PCD on April 21, 2011 at 3:09 pm

Clarification on last point:

Pedro matches up vs. Carvalho, Villa vs. Arbeloa, Messi out left (not sure who picks him up, either alonso or ramos, with the other player spare)

Pepe is outnumbered 2 vs 1 in the middle, so can only pick one of Busquets or Xavi, if he picks up Busquets, Xavi is free to break into the space left by alonso moving right, if he picks up xavi, busquets is free to dictate play (I don’t think he would have the pace to break in the same way xavi can)

Eddy on April 21, 2011 at 3:51 pm

Good points LCD. Moving Busquets forward can give Xavi the space he needs. Also, Busi would give Barca more physical presence in Madrid’s half. Only problem is, when Real do attack, Barcelona are without Busquets(slow) and I dont think Xavi is a very good defender.

But shifting play to the left would leav gaps(even more than usual) at the right side. And Alves has his hands full with Marcelo and Di Maria already.

But I think Pep needs to switch Thiago for Pedro(or Villa) so that at both sides he has players(Messi, Thiago and Villa, Iniesta) who can one-two their way out of anything. That would cause more headaches to Madrid and Also speed up our passing. + Barcelona have more Creativity.

Gabriel on April 21, 2011 at 1:59 pm

Barcelona press really high. That would translate to “being really defensive” because every player played. 13 shots for Barcelona, only 3 on target to Madrid’s 11 and 6. Same number of interceptions.

Both teams equally defensive, just at different parts of the pitch.

CDR on April 21, 2011 at 3:17 pm

You seem to have forgotten that Real Madrid dominated the first half, and overall in the match had more goal scoring chances. I wouldn’t call that “ultra defensive tactics”.

Alba on April 21, 2011 at 7:53 pm

I’ll tell you one thing just to start. Leave the ball to RM also, don’t keep it passing around for 90% of the time. It will help a lot:)

Diverinho on April 22, 2011 at 3:53 pm

You are most probably right. Would be interesting to see phases where Barca decide to sit deep and invite Real to keep the ball running around like in handball. Could try to do counters via Villa and Messi, they are quick enough…

LaMaquina on April 21, 2011 at 1:47 pm

Pepe’s’ midfield role has been the obvious key for Madrid defensively in the two matches. Without Pepe in midfield, Madrid would not have a chance of keeping Barcelona off of the ball. Neither Khedira nor Alonso can impose themselves physically.

Barcelona must find an answer for Pepe, and also light a fire in David Villa’s shorts, if they are to win the Champions League tie.

I thought Guardiola should have started Keita in the midfield to help combat Pepe, and also for more height on set pieces, while stationing Iniesta on the left. Barcelona actually look a decent side these days when Iniesta does move left as it adds another playmaking focal point. I would have left Villa on the bench, stationed Pedro right and pushed Messi top as a false nine. Barcelona are playing into Madrid’s hands by keeping all of their creative players in the center.

Guardiola must think out of the box for the Champions League tie use the limited tactical options he does have with this thin side. If Puyol is able to play in the Champions League, Guardiola needs to play two of Mascherano-Busquets-Keita in the midfield with Xavi and station Iniesta left. He also needs to seriously consider sitting Villa, as he did Ibrahimovic at times last year, and play Messi as a false nine (not as the deeper enganche he’s been playing as) with Pedro right.

Elwood on April 21, 2011 at 4:43 pm

Fantastic, I like your idea very much. Subtle, but I think it’ll make a lot of difference. Iniesta on the left instead of Villa, and bring Keita in the midfield for more physical presence, I’ll not be surprise if that’s what Pep do when the teams meet again.

Pedro on April 21, 2011 at 7:56 pm

I also like the idea of moving Iniesta to the left, but with the ultra defensive tactics of Madrid, I doubt Keita is going to make a very big difference because you need another creative, unpredictable player to occupy Pepe not another destroyer.

kaveh on April 22, 2011 at 12:42 am

Out of curiosity how come madrid had more goal scoring opportunities and more shots on goal with their”ultra defensive tactics?” Barca could not even muster one shot on goal until 60+ minutes of the game were gone,lol.

John Smith on April 22, 2011 at 1:18 am

Why is no one crying out that doing this, PLAYING without a stirker is DEFENSIVE!!!

I mean people are raging at the ultra defensive RM side which had more goal scouring opportunities than Barça.

HERE is a a idea that Barça (the attacking great) actually play like RM??

Seybold on April 22, 2011 at 5:32 am

That’s it exactly. Against Barca Real Madrid needs to play a pure destroyer in midfield, and Pepe’s been brilliant.

I agree on Keita, but Yaya Toure would be much, much better. Barca miss him now. He has the physicality to handle Pepe, with enough skill to play Barca-style.

carumba on April 21, 2011 at 1:52 pm

I think how Mourinho used Pepe was amazing. He was almost like a railroad, running in a straight line from his own box to Barcelonas and back in the first half. I`d even go so far as putting him in the Xabi Alonso Position, with an arrow ahead right between Mascherano and Pique.

two tactical changes Pep should think about for the 1st leg in clasico:
Play like against Villareal a 3+1 defense. With Adriano out, he might be forced even more to play Puyol as a leftback, with Busquets or Mascherano sitting in front of the defense.
He might also try to play Alves and Maxwell as orthodox fullbacks, switching to some kind of 3-5-2. Further, given Villa’s lack of form and lack of alternatives, it’s an absolute must for Messi to play closer to the oppositions box.

Defensively and without the ball, Madrid were superb. Now it’s time for Pep to come up with a surprise or variation to fight out the problem he has. Deep playing fullbacks would make it more difficult for Madrid to score in the first game and despite everything said, with Mourinho in CL it’s always about the result of the 1st leg you get.

Toton on April 21, 2011 at 1:54 pm

Last night’s game was to be shown on all football trainers schools.
For the next game… 3 defenders for Barca will be enough to avoid the pressure. The old Johan Cruyff style with Pique instead of Koeman, and 2 others on the sides. with Alves joining the midfielders on the right.

Can anyone elaborate on what Pinto offers over Valdes? I had barely heard of him before I saw him in goal.

Pepe for me was outstanding, a constant nuisance high up the pitch in midfield. This is also the first Barca game I’ve been able to watch in a long time that wasn’t them simply passing around with 65% possession – most of those contests are very boring and slow paced, and this was very much a thrilling game.

Pinto, I believe, played in all of Barca’s Copa del Rey’s matches and he was being rewarded with a start in the final.

NC on April 21, 2011 at 1:54 pm

Pressuring less after half-time was obviously deliberate, but I think it was about fitness management more than anything. Go full steam for 90 minutes and you’ll be unable to react if changes are needed. Try to conserve energy and then turn back to full steam after 80 minutes. Of course it’s risky, but it’s all about what gives you more probability of winning. Managing is a probabilities game and Mourinho seems to understand this very well.

hwk on April 21, 2011 at 2:01 pm

Nice read.

Maybe it is the best strategy even for a strong team to field your ‘destroyers’ higher up the pitch with a player like Alonso behind. Pepe and Khedia are more familiar to running a lot and making the physical work.

I don’t think that this report is praising Mourinho very (too) high. He made a great job. I think he knew that his team can’t play the same style for 90 minutes. the second half was a little poor. but he knew that if they reach the extra time, Real would need the energy.

After the goal Guardiola had no chance, not in a few minutes after 120 minutes against so many defenders.

But Barca looked good in the second half. Only Villa is out of form.
Now, more teams will play like that against Barca, and Barca should adapt. Two years ago there was no need for a striker like Ibrahimovic (and his ego may not fit to the club), but now they should think about an alternative (some call it plan B) for next season.
that could be Fabregas, or Llorente.

It will be more interesting to see how Guardiola will develop this team in the next season (maybe his last?). and what he will do in the next clasico.

One thing about the clasicos that annoys me is the talking. (and the hard fouls, but Real has to, I know.) Players from both teams are always talking to the ref, and to other players. Is it just the clasico or is it spanish football that they think they know everything better and have to tell everbody? Every little bagatelle will be exaggerated. that is a little poor, but it is the important clasico.

Raul on April 21, 2011 at 3:59 pm

Playing your “destroyer” higher up the pitch only makes sense if you don’t plan to possess the ball for the majority of the game. The reason most clubs don’t do this, is because they would like to have a creative midfielder higher up the pitch to link the midfield and the forward(s).

Pepe is a rare breed in that he’s an excellent destroyer and he offers a serious goal scoring threat (from headers, mainly). By playing him higher up the pitch, Real Madrid loses some of its ability to link its midfield and its attack, which is Ozil’s main role, but they aren’t aiming to dominate possession anyway. Since their strategy was to launch quick counter attacks and send crosses into the box for headers (given Barcelona’s lack of height), Pepe helped their goal scoring chances in that regard. Better to have your creative players (Di Maria and Ozil) on the flanks, so they can send crosses into the box for tall players like Pepe and Ronaldo.

I’m a Barcelona fan, but I have to hand it to Mourinho for his excellent game planning. Given that Real Madrid was never going to play their way through Barcelona’s midfield, their best shot was to counterattack down the flanks and exploit Barcelona’s biggest defensive weakness (their lack of height).

I wonder what Guardiola is going to do for the semi-final matches. If Villa regains his form, I don’t think anything Mourinho does will matter. If not, I still like Barcelona’s chances given that they’re equally good on the road and at home, while Real Madrid is considerably worse on the road. I believe they had won all of their games at home until the Sporting Gijon game, whereas they had lost or drawn nearly as many games on the road as games they had won. Real Madrid’s last two games against Barcelona have ended in draws during regular time, and they’re going to need a lot more than that during their home match if they want to win the semi-final tie.

hwk on April 21, 2011 at 4:12 pm

I think you’re right.

I hope Barca will win the next game. I just want to know what Mourinho has in his book for that.

At the moment Real looks on top, but that can change with the next game.
who cares about the cup if you win europe. but if Real wins the semi-final, every body will look at Barcas ‘big failing’, regardless of the league title. (Maybe both don’t win the Champions League!)

It is a little sad to compress the whole season, all competitions, into four games. But maybe we will never see a more important month for football development. If Real wins the next games, that is like killing a … it could lead to defensive football in europe. Not that Real is a defensive team, but many people, manager, journalists etc. will only see this games and point to “defence wins the championship” when they destroy every game (regardless of the opponent).
Bad times for romantics and idealists. If that will happen.

Jan on April 21, 2011 at 4:25 pm

Amazing how one game or 4 games will make the whole Europe play defensively !! Madrid themselves did not play like this before even in the CL against Lyon and Tottenham. Im sure they need not play like this against any other team. If they get to the final,im sure we’ll see a different Madrid against MU or Shalke.

hwk on April 21, 2011 at 4:33 pm

Yes.
1. I wrote IF. may that was not clear,
2. That Real don’t play defencive football against every other team is not important as long as people only look at this four games. And people will do that. They will forget that Barca is an extreme opponent, not comparable to any other team on the planet. They will point to this games and say: “Real played like that and succeeded. What is good enough for them has to be good enough for us. etc. etc.”

hypothetical spoken.

ksk on April 23, 2011 at 1:51 am

You forgot one important thing.. its the coaches/managers who deploy the tactics and not the viewers and i know that managers of big clubs wont change their philosophy or tactics looking at other big clubs

supermadridsta on April 21, 2011 at 2:06 pm

People think Madrid were negative, defensive. Well in each Barca game, when they lose the ball, you have 10 men get behind the ball for Barca, then quickly get the ball and go back to attacking, thats also defensive if you call Madrid/Inter/Chelsea’s approach defensive.

LaMaquina on April 21, 2011 at 2:18 pm

Barcelona is essentially allowing one player to beat them right now both tactically and mentally in Pepe. It’s hard to believe a side of such world class skill would allow this to happen. If they allow Madrid to get away with the tactic for a third and fourth time, Barcelona deserve the humiliation that will follow.

Elwood on April 21, 2011 at 4:53 pm

But how would you handle Pepe if you’re Guardiola? You can only hope that Xavi/Iniesta/Messi whoever Pepe is marking outplays him, a strict referee, and/or an early booking to curb his aggression. Playing direct and bypass the the midfield completely? You’ll be ignoring your best players, that’s what Madrid wants, and they’ll always win in the air. Maybe that is the problem for Barca, I know they tried Ibrahimovic before, but I think they’ll need a forward with similar qualities (height, strength) and maybe a mentality more suited to Guardiola and Barcelona.

Pedro on April 21, 2011 at 8:06 pm

A change in mentality is not going to exist, Barcelona already won so much with this system, not mentioning Ajax and Holland in the 70’s, it’s a proven system, but yes, I agree with the need for a physically strong striker, they have to break the door sometimes.

Seybold on April 22, 2011 at 5:35 am

You outplay Pepe with Yaya Toure. Oh, wait…

LaMaquina on April 22, 2011 at 2:20 pm

You spread out the playmakers, as I mentioned above regarding Iniesta and Messi specifically. Barcelona have all of their creative players trying to play in the middle. This does not suit Barcelona against a good side. Barcelona becomes narrow with Messi playing as enganche, and this makes it easy for Pepe to disrupt the attack when he can nip at all of their heels. If you spread them out, Iniesta left and Messi top for example, he can’t close them all down.

Sean on April 21, 2011 at 2:24 pm

The Champions League tie will be decided by the referee. I hate to say it, but it’s true. If there is a strong referee who enforces the Laws of the Game and punishes cynical, dirty, and overly agressive play Barca will go through. It’s really that simple. That was disgraceful last night from Madrid. The multiple stamps from Arbeloa were ridiculous. Pepe smashing Messi’s ankle a couple of times was embarassing. I lost count of how many times Alonso cynically blocked of a Barca player making a run towards goal. I’m fine with playing defensive and sitting deep, but it’s not okay to go out and deliberately try and hurt the opposition.

Mourinhio’s haranging of the referee finally paid off. Mallenco is the same referee who gave six cards in the first half of the Germany vs. Serbia game in the 2010 World Cup. He sent off Klose for making two clumsy forward challeneges, but in order to get sent off in this final a Madrid player might have had to stab a Barca player in the back and a yellow probably would have come out. It was obvious that the referee was not going to send a Madrid player off no matter what he did. It was almost embarassing that he sent off Di Maria for a tactical foul when Pepe, Arbeloa, Alonso, and Ramso committed about 15 between them and they all stayed on the pitch.

There is no tactical genius in telling one of the most expensive teams in the world to go and kick lumps out of the opposition, stamp on legs, and smash ankles. You could have hired Phil Brown for that. The real genius in Mourinho is his intimidation of the referees. It finally paid off. That does work.

If Howard Webb and his “man management” style is appointed to one of the Champions League games then Real will go through. It’s that simple. If they get a ref like De Bleeckere or Rizzolli who want allow the game to turn into a battlefield then Barca will go through.

cndrmn on April 21, 2011 at 3:51 pm

I disagree, as it goes both ways. A referee who “enforces the Laws of the Game” would show a yellow card for every tactical foul by Barcelona during counter attacks, and see through every bit of play acting by Barca players.

Alba on April 21, 2011 at 8:47 pm

How you “dare” say that? Barcellona pure and honest as they are playing act? This is a football heresy:) Only when a player from the opponents team falldown you might say they are acting. If a Barca player falldown instead is called “cynical, dirty, and overly agressive play”. Bare that in mind next time:)

Anyway, being seriuos now. If I remember well the refs in CL do tend not to whistle too much but I guess you never know how they’ll manage between these two teams.

kaveh on April 22, 2011 at 12:56 am

You are 100% correct, if barca is to win the cl tie they will require the ref to allow them to play 11 vs10 men, as the ref did against arsenal this year and inter last year. Or perhaps hope for the disgraceful type reffing which happened against chelsea two years ago. No doubt the players know this, which is why biscuits continues to dive holding his face. Even mascherano was in the act, getting adebayor a card for grazing his arm as he clenched his face and collapsed to the pitch. Unfortunately it did not work this time against madrid, but these tactics may work in the cl.

Alf on April 26, 2011 at 5:19 am

I’m glad I’m not the only one who observed the dirty plays that went unpunished. Whether or not Mou gave specific directions for this or simply tolerated is disgraceful. Arbeloa alone deserved 2 red cards.

That being said, it makes it hard for referees when players simulate or exagerate flagrant plays. Masch and Busquets need to stop with the theatrics if they wish to have the ref’s sympathy.

Sean on April 21, 2011 at 2:43 pm

The Mourinho praise has gotten out of hand. There is a cult of personality about the man, it’s outrageous. It’s not like he is managing Stoke City here. He is managing Real Madrid and their strategy is to smash ankles and launch hopeless balls down the channels. Didn’t Cappello get burned at the stake for the same thing? It doesn’t take a genius to go and do that. Any idiot can do that? The genius is getting the fans, the media, and the President to buy into it and deem that it is acceptable.

Pellegrini had a much better team last year who played better football and only lost 3-0 on aggregate against Barca (Mourinho lost 6-1) and yet he was trashed and villified for Real playing a counter attacking football when the football Real plays now is even more extreme. How did this happen?

NC on April 21, 2011 at 2:48 pm

Wasn’t Capello seen worldwide as the best coach in the world at the time?

A good coach does what it has to do.

Sean on April 21, 2011 at 2:56 pm

He was fired by Madrid both times after he won the league, because his teams didn’t play the “Madrid” way. I’m looking at it from a Real Madrid perspective. Cappello was villified by the Madrid media and Madrid management for the football his teams played. Mourinho has Madrid playing far worse and yet he is praised as a genius. How does that work?

NC on April 21, 2011 at 3:36 pm

Yes, and the Madrid management was ridiculed by the non-Madrid footballing world. Capello was the most prestigious coach of the time, do you deny that?
So perhaps they learned from past errors. I think the feeling of Barcelona being virtually unbeatable also plays a part in accepting more pragmatism.

And to be fair, Mourinho doesn’t have Madrid playing worse. They have a lot more goals per game than Capello’s. Against Barcelona it’s a matter of necessity.

Andre on April 21, 2011 at 3:58 pm

So what Pellegrini won again with his attacking football or you’re working by hindsight that if Pellegrini stayed he would have bound to win something. Laws of probability and all that. The Mourinho praise can be over bearing and this tactical genius can be over stretching. What Mourinho does really well, fantastic even, is that he knows what to do and when to do it. He understands the simplicity of the football game and uses it very well. He isn’t an innovator like Sacchi, Rinus Michels, Herrera but like Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep himself, he adapts to certain changes in the football climate. Also, he tried the “Madrid way” and it failed terribly and if you really want to know the Madrid way, it’s winning. Always has been, always would be.

The Madrid board has probably learned their mistake from the Capello incident. You can talk all you want about Pellegrini, but the cold, hard fact is that he literally won nothing. Philosophy and trophies, something has to give, and it’s obvious what is chosen. You can point to Barcelona as a combination of both, but theirs is a combination of luck (a golden generation, if you will), and requires a lot, a lot of time. Madrid wants their results NOW. Your above post is fantastic though, “I’m fine with playing defensive and sitting deep, but it’s not okay to go out and deliberately try and hurt the opposition.” My sentiments exactly.

Dase on April 21, 2011 at 2:49 pm

I truly love all the hate that there’s for yesterday’s Madrid.

I love all the hate that barça fanboys scream, all the people that cry.. really….

It’s like no team in history played like Madrid… i think there’s something called “catenaccio”, or i remember some country in this last World Cup, called Netherlands.

Get over it guys, when you have no faith in winning posession, you must play like that, defend deep or press high, get the hell unleashed on their playmakers, don’t let them make his game.

Madrid did it today successfully, let’s see if they can repeat it in the CL Tie.

LaMaquina on April 21, 2011 at 3:27 pm

If Barcelona allows Pepe to influence CL games as well, they deserve to lose. If the side widely recognized as one of the world’s most tactically nuanced and technically gifted can’t solve a caveman puzzle, they deserve the humiliation.

I really didn’t see it as being a deliberate strategy to let up pressure in the second half (for Madrid). I could be wrong, but my impression was one of sharper passing, quicker passing, more forward momentum, and more confidence. I really think Barça just pushed it up a notch and it was tough for Madrid to get the ball back.

Remember, when Barça is in its “groove” it is tough to break that. Plus, when Madrid was getting the ball back they seemed to be misplacing it, or Barça would win it back in pretty short order. I took this as Barça stepping up and Madrid getting tired from chasing balls (and all the work they put in in the first half).

That being said, it did seem that towards the second half Barça were also tiring and at that point it was clear Madrid had the advantage (with a deeper bench).

One area I wish Guardiola would explore more is his bench. He knows his players better, but I still think that to change things up, and bring on fresh legs, he could have gone to Thiago at some point late in regular time, or in Extra time. Why not? His dribbling skills, inventiveness and fresh legs could have been great.

Bojan is injured, but Jeffren is fit again I believe. With Adriano out (shit!) he will need to go there, but I think especially given Villa’s poor form, he might need to think creatively and trust the youngs guys here and there.

Whether or not the tactic was deliberate to let up pressure (on Madrid’s) part, I think it was clear either team could have won. Barça were having their way in the second half, and so Mourinho was lucky to have weathered that.

Ultimately, I think Madrid are favourites given the depth of their bench, but I am still hoping for Barça to hit their form because for me when they are playing well there is no other team as enjoyable to watch. That Pedro goal last night (called offside) was beautiful, as were some of the final third passing they strung together.

…one other thing, I think Barça is lacking confidence in really “going for it” at times against Madrid. They need to get over that. Pep needs to remind them that all the pressure coming in the middle of the field is good for them because that means when they break that pressure there will be room in behind…

The Copa was a much more enjoyable match than the first clasico. Let’s hope the next two are even more enjoyable (and open, and attacking).

Ariegn on April 21, 2011 at 3:34 pm

I think in the second period Barca completely reshuffled the front with Messi spending ALOT of time on the right, pedro going left and villa staying central. However you dont seem to mention messi moving, only pedro.

Jan on April 21, 2011 at 3:36 pm

Another tactical victory for Mourinho and the Barca fans have started moaning as expected. With this result, I dont see how Barcelona can win the CL either.

I have always maintained that good teams adapt, react to situations and have backup plans if things don’t work. Having played the previous game only 4 days back, Barcelona should have expected what is coming. They should have devised a plan to negate the midfield problem. But as expected, Guardiola doesnt have anything in his think tank. All they do is play the same possession game day in and day out like mad chickens and hope that they win. This works most of the time because they are very good in what they do, but against efficient teams, they need something more, which they dont have.

IMO, this is always coming, isn’t it ? If not now, may be in the finals. I’m sure Alex Fergusen will use a similar strategy if he comes up against Barca, defend well and use the pace of his wingers to score. Arsenal did almost the same in the 2nd leg in the first half before the ridiculous back pass by Fabregas spoiled the game plan. Copenhagen did it earlier and so did Hercules to an extent.

I don’t see why people blame only Mourinho for this. If a particluar team is so predictable in what they are doing, it becomes easier for other teams to counter the tactics. They were pathetic in the first half and Ronaldo should have scored atleast twice by then.

When they started playing better in the second, there is no tactical change either. They could have used Alves in the midfield to counter Pepe. He is the only physically strong player to do that. Ozil is defensively weak and they didnt exploit that as much by creating 2 V 1 situations by pushing Adriano up. They were afraid that they will be caught in the counter and this proved to be costly.

I think Ozil has evolved from the first match where he was so static. He is constantly roaming around the pitch from left to right, picking up the balls from everywhere and sending in some delightful passes. Because of this free role, he is difficult to track and with a proper striker like Benzema on the pitch, he can create many chances. Maybe Messi should take something from this as well. I would like to see Ozil, Benzema, Ronaldo all in the pitch at the same time, with Pepe in the center like yesterday.

Sean on April 21, 2011 at 4:05 pm

It’s not about how Madrid are playing tactically. They can’t put all 11 players inside the 6 yard box for all I care. It’s the manor in which they are going about it. Stamping on legs, smashing ankles, cynical blocks & outrageous tackles is not good for football. Not saying they shouldn’t tackle or even be physical to an extent.

But some of the things they did in that game has no place in football. If you think what Arbeloa did to Villa or what Pepe did to numerous Barca players is acceptable and “good tactics” then you and I have different interpretations of what is football and what we want out of the game. That’s not the right way to go about it. Physically trying to hurt your opponent is not right.

Sigh, you do know that if it weren’t for Iker’s brilliant saves, Barca would be up by at least 3 goals. Tactics did help Madrid win the final no doubt, but your decision to ignore Casillas’s heroics pretty much shows that your really a Mourinho fanboy. Luck played a big role in the game

Jan on April 21, 2011 at 4:48 pm

Did you watch the first half ? Then you should also mention Ronaldo’s misses and Pepe’s header. Real would have been 4-0 up in the first half itself. Casillas was brilliant, no doubt but it was the tactics that created all those chances. If luck played a big part, it was definitely on both sides.

Ck on April 25, 2011 at 6:24 am

Mou’s plan work pretty well in the 1st half. RM had strung 2 lines of parallel defense. (4 across the back n 5 across the midfield)
This denied Barca the space to between the 2 lines, which normally opens chances for Villa, Pedro, and Messi. This also made vertical passes difficult, which Barca like to deploy. RM put a lot of pressure on Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets causing uncanny poor passing from the trio. Peep, Alonso, and Albiol worked in tandem to cut off the attack up the middle. In winning the ball they sent quick counter attack long balls to ozil and Ronaldo, which showed Barca’s vulnerabilities especially when Alves attacked on the right.

The pressing slowed in the second half allowing Iniesta, Xavi, and Busquets to work the gaps, which created the Barca chances. For what reason RM played more lax’d defensively in the 2nd half I don’t know. Could have been to conserve the energy or to push Barca further up the field to exploit the high line in Barca’s back. The strategy in my mind worked for both teams. RM’s lack of pressure allowed Barca offensive opportunities but allowed RM to take advantage of Barca’s push in the back.

The key for Barca is going to be how well they can exploit Madrid’s spaces in the midfield. If they can find a way through the 5 midfielders they will exploit Madrids back line. If not it will be a tightly contested game as was the Copa del Rey Final.

Want to point out that Pepe is much better suited for his role as central midfield destroyer/crazy man than Lass, who might’ve been penciled in if fit. Pepe is bigger, and more importantly, genuinely crazy and he’s in Barca’s heads at this point. Xavi took the worst touch I’ve ever seen from him yesterday and it almost led to a goal (the one when Xabi Alonso sprung him and Ron flashed it wide).

Mourinho has also figured out how to attack Alves, not so much his advanced positioning, but for pace. Di Maria skins him pretty easily. On the goal, Alves anticipated the 1-2 from Marcelo but got beat anyway.

Jan on April 21, 2011 at 3:45 pm

Those who say Real have spent so much money and hence they should play a particluar brand of football should watch the other games. Not even a single game against any other team did they play like this.

It just shows the versatility of the team to play different in different situations. Not for nothing did ZM rate the last year’s Inter vs Barca as the greatest tactical battle of the year. Two completely different games in the semifinal, and Inter played well in both. Barca didnt have any answer even then with Ibrahimovic on the pitch.

If Real becomes more clinical infront of the goal, they will easily win the CL semifinal in aggregate. Barcelona need to come up with something different instead of pass-till-sleep. Mourinho will be very happy if they do the same.

hwk on April 21, 2011 at 3:58 pm

It’s strange

Some praise Real (or Inter) for adapting and changing the style. and others praise Barça for not doing it.

Like marke wrote, it is nice to see Barca beiing pushed to the maximum. Now they have to show how good they are.
For Mourinho Barca is the ultimate challenge. But it looks like mourinho is becoming the ultimate challenge for Barca, too.
Barca doesn’t need a new philosophy, only some readjusments.

After destroying Barca (if it will happen), Mourinho needs a new challenge and has to build up a team that will dominate football like Barca does (did?). Is he able to teach beautiful football, no matter what it costs?

Some day in the future Barca won’t any longer be the best team in the world. Maybe future started yesterday, maybe Barca strikes back.

“What will happen with us in time, Frank?”
- “Time starts now!”

Pep, what will happen with Barca in time?

Jan on April 21, 2011 at 4:11 pm

“and others praise Barça for not doing it.”

They are not realists. If team cannot play differently, it means two things. Either they are arrogant and dont give respect to the opposition or they are incapable of doing it. I think in Barca’s case, it is a combination of both. With some football purists claiming them to be of some super-team of the generation, they have become more complacent. Combine that with Guardiola’s style of coaching, they have become even more 1 dimensional.

They badly needed someone like Eto yesterday who can demolish defenses almost single-handedly. With no variation in the bench also, their style is utterly predictable.

I think the current Real team is capable of becoming a great team, they need some more time. If the Madrid management doesnt go mad again by sacking Mourinho, this team can achieve great heights. Ozil, Khedira, Di Maria, Benzema can become great players. Just because they play like this once or twice in a year against a team like Barca doesnt mean that they are not a good attacking team.

hwk on April 21, 2011 at 4:20 pm

IMHO Barca is able to change their game. But that does not lead to playing long balls (with small players?).

But it is correct a big team should not be dogmatic in defeat. If Reals extreme pragmatism is a good message? don’t know. (EDIT: both are extreme.) Depends on if football is about more then winning games. For me it is more.

Barcas 5-0 win was art. Is Real able to do do something that? is there more than destroying the opponent? Are they able to create something new?

the time of Barca might come to an end. But it is remarkable that it’s possible to build a team that played like Barca did in modern football.

Jan on April 21, 2011 at 4:42 pm

“small players”

Who asked them to have only small players ? They sold Eto to get that useless Ibrahimovic and sold him too and got another smaller player in Villa. Is it other team’s fault that they don’t have different kind of players ?

The team’s playing style finally comes down to what kind of players they have. Barca cannot play crosses and high balls because they don’t have height. Other teams cant play passes like Barca because they dont have that good passers of the ball.

Guardiola could have atlest moved Mascherano to the midfield and pushed Busquets back.

“Barcas 5-0 win was art”
I will also admit this if poor defending and bad tactics are also an art.

“is there more than destroying the opponent? Are they able to create something new?”

Will you say the same if Ronaldo had scored those easy chances yesterday and the score was 3-0 or 4-0 ?

hwk on April 21, 2011 at 4:48 pm

@Jan

I think they choose the player because of their skill and not because they are very tall or small.
Would they have won that many trophies when they kicked Xavi or Messi out of the team “because we want to field a tall player”? Nope, and that is all I say about this topic.

hwk on April 21, 2011 at 4:52 pm

“Will you say the same if Ronaldo had scored those easy chances yesterday and the score was 3-0 or 4-0 ?”

You missed the point. I was not talking about results or goals, I was talking about style. A game can be art and end 0-0. And a game can be a destruction and end 8-0.

For the record: I don’t think that Real plays ugly football.

Mati on April 21, 2011 at 4:13 pm

people praise Barcelona because they stand for something in a time when/where people no longer stand for anything. how do you see football? is it an art, an expression, a moment, a series of moments, glimpses, touches, brush strokes? or is it a war, a psychological battle, a saga, a movie? football is what you want it to be.

I love Madrid for their blind hunger. they are dogs, they were willing to scrap that “we play good football with our Galacticos” just to win…at all costs! I also admire Barcelona for their stubborness, their devotion, faith, belief & unrelentless search for “that” pass, combination & feint. they’re contradicting opposites, and that’s why they’re great.

Mourinho will never play football that is pleasing on the eye. remember his arguement that Chelsea attacked more than Arsenal? quantity or quality? lethal Drogba or impeccable Bergkamp? and this can go on and on and…

Jan on April 21, 2011 at 4:30 pm

Did you watch any of Real’s games before the Classicos? the high scoring ones. Who coached them then ?

Another thing that is striking…typically crossing the ball over to the blindside where Alves would be running into is a key part of the Barça attack. Mourinho’s tactics have clearly disrupted this, and I think Pep needs to find a way to get back that element in their attack, or find an alternative route.

I know many hate Barça and are glad to see them up against the wall. I personally think they are fabulous and am glad to see them being pushed and challenged to the maximum. It is true, they don’t have the options of Madrid (largely due to their philosophy), but I think that is part of the charm.

How crazy to play the way they do against a team like Madrid. What I hope for is both teams to play at their best (in whatever form they choose) and we get some stunning football.

I think Mourinho’s tactics have been the correct tactics for Madrid at this time, and in some ways fairly straightforward, but executed excellently.

That being said, even if Madrid win the CL semi-finals (which looks more and more possible), I don’t see Barça as being a team of the past. They are still largely young (excluding Xavi, big exclusion). I think if Pep manages to actually add to his bench, and bring in one or two other attacking options, they will remain very dominant.

If Mourinho stays 4 years, then I think the battles between these two could remain very challenging with both sides taking the upper hand at given times.

Let’s not forgot that even with all the height, power and option on the bench available for Madrid, Barça quietly manages to play against Madrid while obviously not in their best form (like they were in Novemeber / December), and with almost no bench to speak of.

They are still a force to be reckoned with!

jared on April 21, 2011 at 4:27 pm

2 games so far, and two different tactical setups from jose!

i wonder, does he have yet another plan for the CL?

LaMaquina on April 21, 2011 at 4:28 pm

How Barcelona can solve the “Caveman Problem”:

So far, Barcelona has tried to play Madrid the same way they’ve tried to play everyone else recently for the most part. Guardiola has his three most talented playmakers all set in the same zone with Messi’s newfound enganche role this season. This allowed Arsenal, with a double screen, to play Barcelona much more evenly. This strategy has also allowed Pepe to be a one man wrecking crew of Barcelona’s attack because he is within striking range of all three players.

Barcelona needs to tip the balance by stationing Iniesta to the left. This single adjustment would go a long way to keeping Barcelona’s attack open. No matter what Pepe does in the middle of the pitch to Xavi or Messi, you would still have a playmaking outlet available in Iniesta.

If you keep all of them in the same zone, it is very easy to for a team with good DM quality to force a bottleneck.

And with Villa’s form being what it is, I would give serious consideration to benching him and pushing Messi further up as a 9/false 9 with freedom to interchange with Pedro on the right. Guardiola used Messi and Pedro like this in the 2-0 in Madrid last year.

In my opinion, Messi can do very well in the deeper enganche role at times, but I feel against multiple DMs (double pivot or tripivot) he gets in Xavi’s way and eliminates his influence. Xavi can’t play his defense splitting passes with Messi dropping so deep and exert his usual influence. I would play a midfield of Mascherano-Busquets-Xavi if Puyol is fit. If not, I use Busquets-Keita-Xavi or even consider using Keita left (like Guardiola did at the Emirates last year when Barcelona produced the best sequence of football I’ve ever seen).

Sean on April 21, 2011 at 5:11 pm

Where is the “tactical genius” in this? I can’t believe people are excusing this or ignoring it. The fact that Mourinho whines and moans so referees don’t punish that is embarrassing. There is a reason he has had a player sent off 6 times in the 11 times he has faced Barcelona in his managerial career. There is a reason in the last three games his team has gone down to 10 men at a point in the game.

If you are a fan of football you don’t want to see that. There is no place for that. The fact that Mourinho is so consumed with winning and that he will do whatever it takes to win that he will tell his players to do stuff like that shows a lack of character. Yeah Barca players dive and cheat as well, but you don’t see them genuinely try to hurt and maim opposing players.

Mark on April 21, 2011 at 6:46 pm

Great analysis, and I agree.

Pedro on April 21, 2011 at 8:17 pm

But if you station Iniesta at the left, Pepe can go back a little bit and occupy the space between the midfield and the defense alongside Alonso, like Khedira has been doing all season – with Madrid using two DMCs -, and Khedira could be positioned at the midfield to mark Xavi.

Nevertheless, I agree with the exit of Villa from the starting eleven.

Taijin_Kyofusho on April 22, 2011 at 3:21 pm

I think playing Iniesta on the left isn’t going to be helpful.In theory yes it sounds a good idea but since he’s a central-playmaking player and not a winger he will give in to his tendency to come in to the midfield a lot and with Messi dropping deep this will result in a very congested midfield

Dominic Yusoff on April 21, 2011 at 4:37 pm

I find the suggestion that Madrid “allowed” Barca back into the game to be a laughable one. If it weren’t for the heroics of Iker Casillas, it would be Barca lifting the trophy and the discussion would be about how Mou got the tactics wrong in the 2nd half. Yes tactics were important in the game, but don’t dimiss the actions of Casillas by saying that “it was part of the plan.”

hwk on April 21, 2011 at 4:44 pm

timing and a some luck (or fortune) is important.
You can’t buy anything for an “If”.

But of course: IF the game ends after 90 minutes and Barca wins, everybody would say: tough match, but deserved victory.

Jordan on April 21, 2011 at 4:44 pm

It will be like in the film Inception. Now that the idea of “doubt” has been planted in the Barca players minds, it will slowly grow and destroy them. In the five back-2-back clasico wins over the past two years, they built up their mental confidence the same way, now with a draw against 10-man Madrid, and now a loss in cup final, they will have those doubts creeping in for the first time since 2008.

The CL semis will be decided by mental fortitude more than anything. Madrid are probably feelings like gods right now.

Ran on April 21, 2011 at 4:57 pm

That felt good. Ronaldo was poor all game (stop freaking using him as a striker), but at least he scored the winning goal. Very selfish towards the end though, he had Di Maria absolutely wide open to finish it off and didn’t pass it to him. I’ll forgive him though.

First half we played amazing. Barca had possession but we pressed the heck out of them and were impressive with the ball. I still can’t believe Pepe’s header didn’t go in.

Second half and extra time were all Barca. They absolutely dominated us, I have no idea how we held on. I was sure they’d somehow score a goal and we’d go to penalties. Glad it didn’t come to that or I’d have a heart attack.

So happy that Serg proved me wrong, he was OUTSTANDING at center-back this game (I always thought he makes too many mistakes at center-back). Absolutely immense. As was Marcelo by the way, once again confirming how important he is to this team. All the people who were saying we need a new left-back simply having been watching the little teddy bear play.

Winning a trophy feels awesome, especially vs. Barca, but winning the CL will be freaking amazing, especially because we have to go through Barca to do it. Let’s get em!

And I can’t believe that you didn’t mention Casillas — he was Man of the Match.

ZM, great write up. Pretty much sums it up. However, I do think that this part is not entirely true:

“Guardiola couldn’t change things at 1-0 down….Barcelona really needed more of a presence in the box, but Guardiola didn’t have a true physical striker at his disposal. Real weren’t really hanging on ”

…You see, Guardiola did try to change things at 1-0 down. He put on Pique as the striker for the remainder of the game. This was the same strategy that he had used against Mourinho’s Inter in the UCL semi final second leg at the Camp Nou and it resulted in a goal. Pique did provide some presence. But after defending in a disciplined manner in excess of 110 minutes, the Real Madrid defenders knew what they had to do to stop Pique as well.

Jordan on April 21, 2011 at 5:15 pm

If you are pushing your 6 ft tall CB up to striker in this kind of situation, isn’t that admission of guilt in a way that you should at least have 1 back up striker that is tall/physical like Ibra was? I understand that Ibra and Guardiola had interpersonal issues, but I mean, it was Guardiola’s fault for sacking Eto’o to begin with. Eto’o leaves and Barca goes from winning 6 trophies to only 1, meanwhile Eto’o gets a second treble.

I want to hear Guadiola apologize to Barcelona fans for his moronic transfers! He has only made 1 good signing in 3 years, Dani Alves.

Well, that’s obviously a point. I’ve always felt that Guardiola’s biggest mistake was letting Etoo go and parting with close to 70 million effectively. Etoo was the perfect striker for the barcelona system. The current team doesn’t have physical presence in the air and on the ground, which is exactly where Mourinho designed his game plan to hit. But that is hindsight. What we’re talking about is here and now and given the options, Guardiola did try to right the wrong.

I can say this was similar to Mourinho’s public admittance of getting his starting 11 wrong in the 1st clasico which Real lost 5-0. By putting in Lass, Mourinho more or less admitted that the team’s set up was wrong. He has evidently learnt from his mistake. On the other hand, Mourinho’s hardliner tactics have got the better of Pep 2nd time now, so it remains to be seen how Guardiola deals with this particular problem. If you ask me, this season I do not see a solution, but in the summer Barca will surely try to sign a forward with physical presence.

Jordan on April 21, 2011 at 6:58 pm

Honestly, after the way Mou played with Inter last year, I’m a bit surprised that Pep didn’t sign a physical forward in August or January to counter the way Mourinho plays against him? He should have bought a physical forward, even if on lone, during the winter.

Sean on April 21, 2011 at 7:08 pm

After last year’s tie against Inter everyone said, including ZM, that Barca’s problem was a lack of movement and Ibrahimovic took up too much space for Messi, Iniesta, and Pedro. So they went in and got one of the most mobile strikers around in Villa.

It’s hilarious. People said Ibra was the problem last year, now they are saying he is the solution this year. Which one is it?

I think it is a question of having backup. Having Ibra means one has to start him for 40 odd games in a season at least; that obligation and the fact that Ibra reduces the fluidity of the front three makes him a tad undesirable. Villa IS definitely better than Ibra and more suited to the Barca style of playing. That being said, what they need is someone who throws in something different into the mix; someone who may not start as many games, but would be effective when the going gets tough. That is exactly what they didn’t have.

They had the movement all this season, but in this match, their attack was slower than Real’s defence. Over the 120 minutes, even they played a tremendous amount of uncharacteristic hoofball because of the ineffectiveness of their attack (or rather the effectiveness of Real’s defence). Having someone of imposing physical stature would’ve helped.

davement on April 23, 2011 at 2:07 am

im far from knowledgeable but wouldnt have picking up someone like adebayor to give barcelona a different look up front been a smart play?

Diverinho on April 21, 2011 at 8:19 pm

Villa was a pretty good transfer, still. Although he is not well in form recently. But he is capable of fantastic runs, dribbles, goals, and pressing as we know from the WC. I wonder, though, why Barcelona did not purchase David Silva last season, too…

Mark on April 21, 2011 at 5:39 pm

Barcelona need to try something different, Mourinho has them sussed, so Pep needs to be brave and spring a suprise on Jose, and I think dropping Xavi could be the solution.

Of course Xavi is a fantastic player, but two games in a row he’s had very little impact, and Madrid/Mourinho have suffocated him out of the game, and he’s had very little chance to play killer balls due to Madrid’s deep and narrow defensive line, and he’s less effective up against the agressive Madrid midfield.

What do fans think of this line up for the game in Bernabau.

Valdes

Alves-Pique-Puyol-Adriano

Busquets-Mascherano

Pedro-Messi-Iniesta

Villa

Busquets can push little further forward, he can dominate games with his passing, and Masch can combat the agression of Pepe.

Messi should be told he can’t drop too deep, try and play solely between the lines of midfield and defence, last night he was dropping way too deep, and was becoming crowded out. He needs to be getting the ball between the lines and drawing defenders in and going past them. Messi will cause alot more problems playing higher and not dropping deep. Also try and get Iniesta cutting in from the left so Madrid have more players to deal with centrally, can’t see Arbeloa, who I expect to play RB, exploiting too many gaps that Iniesta will vacate.

If Barcelona avoid defeat in the Bernabau, I expect them to go through. A score draw would be great for them, this means Madrid will then have to go to Barcelona and score, as opposed to doing what Mourinho does best, and that’s parking the bus. Busquets/Masch provide good defensive capabilities and Busquets is a very comfortable footballer, and a new shape up front will hopefully cause Barcelona more problems, because they have to change something…

What do fans think?

hesp on April 21, 2011 at 5:52 pm

I would drop Villa instead, it seems him and the whole team lack confidence recently, I would play:

Similar to Spain’s system in the World Cup, Messi needs to be less selfish with the ball, he seems to be less prone to passing lately, I have to really aplaud Pinto who had a great game in my eyes, and Di Maria one of my favorite players in a Madrid shirt ever. Pique’s forward runs were dreadful, and he ended up playing like a striker, but he also was one of the few who didnt seemed defeated by Ronaldo’s goal.

Jordan on April 21, 2011 at 5:59 pm

And just how is Messi supposed to get the ball between the lines when either Pepe or Khedira are constantly sitting there and waiting to tackle him and soon as he receives a pass? Madrid did great in these two games because Mou used Pepe “between the lines” to suffocate Messi.

Mark on April 21, 2011 at 6:18 pm

hesp – I like that team.

Jordan – In the first game, yes. Yesterday Pepe played alot higher up the pitch, broadly pressing Xavi, with Khedera on Iniesta, so it was mainly left to Alonso to focus on Messi, and although being a good defensive player, I still think Messi could give him alot of problems. Alonso’s pace and movement isn’t great, and he’s not the kind of player who wants to focus on doing a defensive job all game.

M on April 21, 2011 at 5:46 pm

I think its ludicrous to discuss tactics without mentioning a clear tactic by Mourinho– that of purposely fouling. The Real Madrid players were clearly instructed to stop midfield playmakers by any means possible and I’m sure he was smart enough to know any Spanish referee would be hesitant to give another red card to his side. Once champions league comes along it will undoubtedly be a different story when a real ref decides to do his job and clamp down on outlandish fouling in the beginning of the stages of the game.

MrB on April 21, 2011 at 5:51 pm

Oh how Barca missed Yaya Toure! Well done Mourinhio.
Will be fascinating to see what Pep does now

Why are people so angry here? The two games have been wonderful in my opinion. What were you guys expecting to see? Madrid out-pass Barca? Is there no beauty in playing counter-attacking football of such high quality? If only Ronaldo had his scoring shoes on!

João Cunha on April 21, 2011 at 5:55 pm

ZM,

You should had cover Benfica-Porto, an epic win by Villas-Boas team…! 1-3!

Best regards

plyka on April 21, 2011 at 5:57 pm

I think an important point to take away from this is Barca’s futility in attack. This is now 2 matches against Madrid in a matter of 5 days. Barca has scored a total of 1 goal in 90+90+30 minutes of action! 2 and 1/3 games and Barca score 1 goal. By the way, that was a penalty kick. Not to mention in the first game, Barca was playiing against a Madrid side with 10 men!

This is further evidenced by Barca’s performance in the first half of the CDR. Barca fans were getting on Arsenal because in the 2nd leg of their matchup, Arsenal failed to get even 1 shot on goal for the entire match. Well, in the first half of the CDR, Barca failed to even create 1 goal scoring opportunity. More to the point, they failed to get a shot on goal of ANY KIND, even some shot that dribbled to Iker, or a shot from 35 yards away, etc., Barca failed to get any shots on goal until more than 60 minutes had waned off the clock.

In the 2nd half Barca dominated proceedings from about the 55 minute mark to perhaps the 80 minute mark, but even then, they had 3 real chances, all which were saved by Iker and none which were too demanding of Iker. I believe Barca’s best opportunity was the fluffed kick by Villa off of the rebound he got from Messi’s chance.

On the other hand Madrid had chance after chance throughout the game. Ronaldo was atrocious on the night, he really should have had a hatrick. But he missed so many golden opportunities.

Even the figures at the end of the match bear this out as Madrid had DOUBLE the shots on goal that Barca did.

Sean on April 21, 2011 at 7:05 pm

You can look at it another way as well. In 210 minutes real have only managed to score one more goal than Barca. One came on a penalty and another came in extra time. It’s not like Real Madrid have been prolific themselves.

ira on April 21, 2011 at 7:34 pm

> none which were too demanding of Iker

Which game were you watching ? Casillas made two incredible saves — one on Pedro and one on Iniesta. The one on Iniesta was with his fingertips. And Pedro was barely offside (with his upper body, not with his feet) on the disallowed goal. Thus, Barca very very nearly had three goals, for all their nonexistent first half. Btw, Messi’s dribbling – beating five or six Madrid players — and then his pass to Pedro, made the goal, albeit disallowed, one of the most beautiful plays you’ll ever see.

Pedro on April 21, 2011 at 8:20 pm

@ira, it doesn’t matter if the offside is with his upper body, because that is also a part of the body he can use to play the ball, it sounds stupid, but that’s the rules.

Jordan on April 21, 2011 at 6:04 pm

I never thought I would actually see Barca grand attack crumble, but this whole Spring season they have looked awful. They have been getting by in the league with a number of narrow 1-0 and 2-1 wins, which is very bad preparation for the 4 clasicos.

Bravo Madrid, for having mental strength to come back from that 1-0 loss to Gijon and so far taking the 4 clasicos series by storm!

hassan on April 21, 2011 at 6:20 pm

i thought madrid were playing a rugby game helped by refree.. they pulled down barca players wen ever they looked like penetrating….. or fouled them…

M on April 21, 2011 at 6:54 pm

Yea, that’s definitely true and its clearly a tactic used by Mourinho wherever he goes, look at the games last year with Inter Milan, Zlatan’s shirt was torn in half. Of course for these Mourinho addicts its all part of how great he is to introduce his players to the Italian way to play and complain about red cards when a ref actually decides to do something.

Jan on April 21, 2011 at 6:36 pm

Wonderful comments from a certain “Lippi-kai-yay” on the so called Anti-football commentators:

“But what is even worse than fans simply neglecting the skill involved in defensive contributions achieving an objective, is the large group almost flat out denying that defensive tactics are even valid. Instead they’re something dirty and distasteful and certainly a winner playing defensive is never a deserving one.

I’ll call these fans “beautiful game fundamentalists” and with the risk of entering into some tedious high brow territory dangerously flirting with over analyzing (you have been warned) I could divide my way of seeing football and theirs (the moral majority) into religion and art.

I think that finding different ways to win, play to your own strengths and exploit opponent weaknesses, that is the true art form, no matter if its defensive or attacking, winning is the art form, while on the other hand the moral majority fan exclusively respecting, having room in his narrow mind only for one style of playing, believing in that no matter what and strongly disliking or worse disrespecting everything else, anything different, that’s when clinging to attacking football becomes almost religious fundamentalism.

Football as religion or football as art then? I definitely prefer the art. Seeing it like that as opposed to blindly worshiping it as religion also has a tendency to leave more room for actual thinking, for analyzing, which this site is a great example of. This site I suspect didn’t spring from a religious fanaticism…”

Let’s cut to the chase — would you want your kids to play football the way Mourinho has his teams play ?

There’s a difference between defensive and dirty.

Jan on April 22, 2011 at 8:04 am

Come on.. Barca had their own share of diving and kicking…Busquets ahould have got red..

Regarding Kids, I would rather ask them to watch Madrid’s games together so that they can adjust and adapt to different styles depending on the opposition. Rather than the Single-tactic-Barca who, no matter what happens play the same way hoping that they’ll win.

Alf on April 26, 2011 at 5:39 am

.

Real2 on April 22, 2011 at 3:20 pm

Why not? It’s well within the rules to play aggressively on the pitch. You get punished if you break the rules, and you get sent off if you collect 2 yellows. Who are you to decide what’s dirty? There’s a referee on the pitch to apply those rules. Pepe may have been an aggressive player but he did enough to rattle Barca’s players without breaking anybody’s ankles or arms. Barca’s Puyol is equally a “caveman”. Buscuits is a walking SHAME. There’re alot of divers on Barca team. Madrid’s Ronaldo and Di Maria dive regularly too. Oh, back to Biscuits — he is the player I’d teach my children not to become. Don’t mean to be rude, please get off your moral high horse.

Alf on April 26, 2011 at 5:42 am

So you shouldn’t be aware of and follow the rules of your own accord? You should see just how much you can get away with by intentionally hurting other players? Mentalities like that destroy football and make refereeing harder than it has to be. It’s disappointing to hear people say such things.

ira on April 21, 2011 at 7:53 pm

A little thinking gets to the heart of the matter: if you’re not a fan of either team, then it doesn’t matter who wins. In fact, under such circumstances, the whole notion of winning is irrelevant: what you’re interested in is seeing something that’s creative, beautiful, artistic, original, athletic, pleasurable, interesting, etc. Once again, since winning is irrelevant (you’re not a fan of either team), strategy and tactics whose purpose is to try and ensure a victory are of no importance. What is important, of course, are the aforementioned qualities.

Do you really think Mourinho’s teams (not just at Madrid, and here I’m not speaking about the Madrid players’ abilities, I’m talking about the style that they’re forced to play by Mourinho) embody any of the aforementioned qualities ? Quite simply, if I’m not a fan of Madrid, why would I ever want to see them play — at least they play against Barca ?

ira on April 21, 2011 at 7:57 pm

should be ‘Quite simply, if I’m not a fan of Madrid, why would I ever want to see them play — at least the way they play against Barca ?’

AfroEuro on April 21, 2011 at 11:47 pm

I’m not a fan of Madrid. But I appreciate watching a team execute a well-thought out strategy. That to me is beauty.

If you want playstation football, go play Fifa

Zero on April 22, 2011 at 5:14 am

I’d probably agree with AfroEuro here. Mourinho’s teams are certainly interesting. They may not play ‘pretty football’, but then, “What is pretty cannot be beautiful,” as Wittgenstein put it.

Colo on April 22, 2011 at 1:57 am

I thought this website was for people who liked tactics, Am I lost?

Jan on April 22, 2011 at 6:57 am

Very amusing. Who say that for a neutral, strategy and tactics are not important ? If you watch it like it, dont expect other too. You mention “interesting”.. Is Barca passing the ball backwards and sideways 1000 times interesting for you ? I found Mourinho’s tactics the most interesting in both the matches. Playing Pepe in the DM role in the first match and even forward in the second match was the big change and it made a huge impact.

Madrid always played attacking football all season and I didnt see any match where they played 3 DMs. They had to play like this because of the opposition and it it totally acceptable.

Infidel on April 21, 2011 at 6:40 pm

Mati,

LOL. Yes, Barca stand for something – a million sideways and backward passes.

When they play full-on attacking football in the big games rather than sit back and pass the ball around when they’re ahead, then you can say they stand for something.

Mati on April 21, 2011 at 7:20 pm

childish arguement

kaveh on April 22, 2011 at 2:46 am

Thats a real argument. I love how the attacking barca had half as many chances as madrid. Barca have their pique pass it to biscuits back and forth a million times and barca fans call this beautiful? It is the same thing as time wasting. An attacking sides moves forward and creates chances. Barca only does this against weak sides or sides with ten men. Against great sides they pass the ball back and forth between defenders its boring.

Ryan on April 22, 2011 at 6:20 am

And RM mostly hoofed the ball up in the hopes of their forward players snagging a goal. This oversimplifying thing seems pretty easy!

Alf on April 26, 2011 at 10:06 pm

Perhaps if Mou didn’t instruct 10 of his players to sit back in their own half Barca would do more than sideways passes. Unpark the bus and you will get plenty of forward motion from Barca, no doubts!

Fair play to Mourinho – but is this what football’s really about?
It should be about something that’s enjoyable and interesting to watch, but frankly Mourinho killed it. His desire for trophies and winning is understandable but in my opinion, this game is not what true football should be about.

Zero on April 21, 2011 at 7:36 pm

Football certainly isn’t about dogmatically imposing some style of play on a team regardless of one’s strengths and one’s opponents’ weaknesses and styles of play. The only real consequence that can ensue when a certain style of play is to be considered the only ‘right way’ to play is a stream of vulgarizing imitations, as was suffered for example by Herrera’s catenaccio. There is a difference between beautiful and pretty. Football would be dull if tactics focused on maximizing eye-candy. It would probably become as ludicrous as T20 cricket, which has much the same enjoyability as it aim.

El Ingeniero Pellegrini on April 21, 2011 at 7:42 pm

Playing Di Maria out wide left (usually Ronaldo plays wide left) was a wonderful move on Madrid’s part. So far I think I’ve seen Marcelo make more surges forward than Alves.

I also think that Sami Khedira has shown a lot more in attack than he has all season. Mourinho has given him more freedom to push forward than he has all season in the 4-2-4 that Madrid usually employs.

As plyka mentioned, Barcelona have been held to 1 goal (a penalty) in 210 minutes, including 45 where they had a man advantage. Well played Madrid, well done Mourinho.

Roberticus on April 21, 2011 at 8:48 pm

Problems from Barcelona, tactically speaking (and yes, there are also huge phsysical/psychological problems with Villa and Pedro’s form, notwithstanding).

1) At their best, Barcelona can simultaneously overman a midfield whilst seamlessly stretching the play along the flanks. This is not easily achievable for most teams (a bit like the short blanket-cold night conundrum vis-a-via defence-vs-attack)and this aspect was missing in the Copa final due to..

2) ..Busquets dropping deep in oder to escape Madrid’s press; it created a numerical advantage for Barça – but far too deep inside their own half so as to be meaningful and it gave Madrid time to compact their defensive positions in the middle third.

3) A further consequence of Busquets dropping into defence is that Xavi dropped deeper into vacated space in his half to receive and Messi in turn felt obligated to retreat into midifeld in order to offer numerical advantage…

4) .. and so Barcelona only had two forwards (Pedro and Villa) to stretch the play across all five channels. With Messi playing mostly in front of Alonso and occassionally even the slightly more advanced Khedira and Pepe, he was never going to pull centre-backs Carvalho & Ramos out of position and thus generate space for Villa and Pedro to make diagonal runs.

All of the above becomes less problematic whenever Xavi and/or Iniesta can play wider and closer to the overlapping full-backs and outside-forwards, thereby forming triangles.

It serves to lure away one of Madrid’s three central midfielders in support of Marcelo/Arbeloa and opens space for Busquets and the remaining Barça midfielder to triangulate with one of the forwards either dropping off from the front or cutting in from wide.

Perhaps Barcelona would’ve been better with a more fixed attacking presence on the left flank (i.e., Pedro, who manages both feet well, from the start)and keeping a more defensive full-back behind (even Mascherano) to guard against Madrid’s outside-right.

Now with news of Adriano out injured for four weeks, how can Barcelona generate this width?

Immediately they seem to have lost their option of a symmetrically-spread 2-3-2-3/cum 3-4-3 with Busquets dropping in, and what was essentially a wing-back game.

They may have little choice but to field a back three with Mascherano and Puyol offering Pique mobile support…. or if you prefer, it’d be a lobsided back four with Alves pushing on.
But the width on the left would have to come from a wide-forward who won’t cut inside until very late.

Pedro perhaps?

matt on April 21, 2011 at 11:49 pm

My arguments in favor of a front three of Pedro left, Villa center, and Messi right.

1) Yesterday, Messi was being forced so deep, he couldn’t pull Madrid’s back line out. He had to beat three holders before reaching the center backs. Therefore, Ramos and Carvalho were very comfortable. Messi couldn’t harm the back line with his dribbling

2) Since Madrid’s back line was intact, Villa and Pedro couldn’t make runs beyond the defense, since there was no space. Also, with Messi crowded out and Xavi too deep, there was no one to play the through ball to find them anyway. Messi couldn’t harm Madrid with his passing or vision.

3) Playing Messi on the right would open up space for Xavi or Villa. Since Marcelo is not able to contain Messi 1 v 1, he needs help. Either that help comes from a holder coming wide (opening space for Xavi) or a center back offering backup (opening space for Villa). There is no chance that the help will come from Ronaldo.

4) Returning Villa to his preferred position might help him find his form again.

Roberticus on April 22, 2011 at 12:45 am

Excellent stuff Matt,

I’d just add to your point No.3 (“There is no chance that the help will come from Ronaldo”) that even if he does track back to help Marcelo that in itself would be a small tactical victory since you’d be distancing him from the counter-attack. Puyol, Pique and Mascherano would be eternally grateful for that.

Also, I agree with point No.4 and Villa’s starting position

At Valencia, he was usually the lone striker and was free to drift all across the front line; this horizontal movement was a huge part of Villa’s game. It enables him to loose his marker more easily and find himself comfortable shooting positions.

You could argue for Villa emphasising his runs rightwards from in-to-out in order to create space for Messi to cut in from that flank. Villa would then provide Marcelo with a dilema; does he follow Messi and allow Villa to disappear off the radar (likely to move back across the front line and filter through, especially if Barcelona succeed in feeding the ball wide left to Pedro)?

Diverinho on April 22, 2011 at 4:09 pm

(“There is no chance that the help will come from Ronaldo”) – Don’t you both think that it anyhow would be again DiMaria doing that job on the left?
Although that of course would allow Alves then to advance – something Barca was missing throughout the whole game nearly…

Marcelo actually handled Messi 1 vs. 1 quite confortably on Wednesday. He has had problems when Alves joins the attack. It is Messi who usually benefits from numerical superiority.
Notice that when Marcelo has had some help from the man on his side of the central midfield, then it’s Xavi who joins Messi and Alves to keep local superiority. Barça make this kind of movement very well.
The addition of Di Maria in this flank was what balanced things 3 vs. 3 and later in the second half, when Messi moved to the right (Pedro was in the left and Villa as #9), Marcelo disposessed him several times, in centre half positions where Messi loves to move from the wing as Alves comes forward.
Mourinho loves to deploy offensive players willing to sacrifice themselves in defense for a reason. He did this with Inter. Alves not only has a man covering him (and Di Maria was usually pacier than him!), but he has to worry about defending if they are skilled attackers, too. This screwed with him, and in the end was 33% of Madrid’s goal.

Roberticus on April 22, 2011 at 2:31 am

In static terms, what I’m proposing would be something like this…more of a 3-1-3-3 (disaligned) than the famous 33.

Keita has some experience at left back and might provide some of what Barcelona has lacked without Abidal- though Adriano was a clear upgrade from Maxwell defensively. The question for Guardiola will be whether or not he trusts Keita enough in the position to make the move.

Barcelona was the best team and they deserved to win. Sadly, Mourinho’s constant crying of “biased refs in favor of Barça” took effect and the ref let Madrid’s players play as dirty as they wanted. Mourinho complains about always having one man sent off against Barça; maybe he should tell his men to actually play clean to solve the problem instead of blaming the people that rightfully send them off.

Mourinho is nothing more than an hypocrite, I wonder if he’ll scream ‘bad referee’ now.

Hope that Barcelona defeats Madrid in Champions and that the referee correctly apply the rules.

Real2 on April 22, 2011 at 3:04 pm

If the referee had “correctly applied the rules”, he would have flashed at least 3 more yellows on Barca players, and Alves should have collected his 2nd yellow and Barca would have gone down to 10 men.

ProFF7 on April 23, 2011 at 4:28 am

Thats ok, Barcelona down do 10 men, but if the referee had applied the rules correctly, Madrid would be down to 8 men

Mano on April 22, 2011 at 3:30 pm

lol

RMJ on April 21, 2011 at 9:11 pm

playing a center-back or defender in midfield as a Defensive midfielder against possession greedy teams is nothing new…o’shea did this nicely for Man Utd in their games against Arsenals invincible era teams and got some results

personally i thought the general game plan is what every team should be looking to use when facing barca, and with that light bench its decent idea..reflecting back did arsenal and wenger go about something similar at camp nou? even then you need much better defenders than what arsenal did

Roberticus on April 22, 2011 at 1:26 am

Actually, it was only in the league game at the Bernabeu that Pepe played as a screening midfielder.

In the Copa final he played further forward and with along Khedira went rampaging into Barcelona’s half to disrupt their passing. Alonso was the benificiary of the space just in front of his defenders as it gave him time to recycle the ball out to Madrid’s wide players.

1. Thiago could have, and could still, come in for Villa later in the match, and slot into the front three on the left. His role wouldn’t be to score necessarily, although he could, but to beat his defender on the dribble (which he does very well) and feed Messi. Of course, Thiago could also take Iniesta’s spot and Iniesta takes the forward position, which has been done, but Pep might want Iniesta’s experience given all the pressure in the middle of the field. I think this is a good option.

2. Some have mentioned Barça don’t change for matches. This is largely true given their adherence to their “philosophy”, but they do make some very big changes. Remember that Barça played the Copa without Puyol (who probably could have played) and Abidal. Those are very big shoes to fill, but Mascherano did a great job. Still, the amount of juggling the team has done in the back 4 has been impressive. The problem being this limits options on his bench.

3. And, Pep does make many tactical changes between and during matches. They just tend to be more micro-level tactics. An example: one of the reasons I don’t really buy the idea that it was deliberate to let up the pressure in the second half (on Madrid’s part) was due to the marked changes in how Xavi, Iniesta and Messi were receiving the ball. In the first half, they largely passed back (defensive half), sideways, or held the ball a bit long. After the break it seemed clear Pep had instructed them to catch and turn, because they all started doing this. This spin off their man into the offensive half was much more aggressive and I think Mou must have given instructions to fall back into their defensive formation when beat. That sort of adjustment is what Pep does all the time. I think it was a big help.

4. Let’s not forget or downplay the fact that Barça have been off form since the Christmas break. It is weird, but everyone has noticed it. They were on fire before, but have not been on form since. Villa and Pedro are the glaring examples, but not the only ones. Before the break, the shocking thing about this team was the amount of people they had to put in goals. That power is absent. That they are still in this with being so out of whack is impressive. I get the feeling that if they could *somehow* steel their resolve and focus they could still beat this Madrid team 5-0. I do think that is a long shot at this point, however, given how late in the game we are.

Madrid are taking advantage of this poor form, but so have all the teams Barça has played in the last 2-3 months.

What happened after that break? Just fatigue? The press got to their heads? Very curious.

5. I think Villa remains a great addition for the team, and he should find his form again (maybe next season, unfortunately). I do think Llorente would be a better fit than Ibra for a number of reasons. I would prefer to see them go for Llorente rather than Cesc this summer. Cesc can wait another year or two (or go somewhere else). They have other needs that are more pressing.

6. I think the ref did an excellent job last night. It was clear that he missed some very mean spirited fouls that could have been red (or at least yellow) cards, but over all he did a very good job of ignoring the falling by both sides and encouraging them to just play. I was impressed given the early minutes, and the tension involved.

Kim on April 22, 2011 at 2:42 am

I understand people calling for other players to come in like Thiago and Bojan, if he was fit, but do you guys really think they would have survived? If experienced players like Villa were getting pushed off the ball, stamped on and elbowed at every turn do you really think little Bojan or Thiago could handle that? They both would have been ran over especially with the murderer Pepe in the centre of the pitch!

Archie_V on April 22, 2011 at 11:13 am

Interesting points all.

1.Guardiola has multiposition players at his disposal, but Thiago hasn’t been one of them so far, always standing in for Xavi or Iniesta so far. He has tried Afellay up front on the left and right, though, and Jeffren too (whose benching since he came back from injury must be because he’s out of either form or favour).

2. Yes, you’re right, Barcelona do ring the changes. Surely playing Mascherano at centre back (and Yaya Touré there two years ago) and Dani Alves as an out-and-out winger (tried for the first time in a clásico, no less) are solutions that are just as creative as Pepe in midfield.

3. Another tactical microchange I (and someone elseup there somewhere) noticed was to bring Alves infield when in possession to have an extra man available for short triangulations to unblock the midfield and get the ball moving forward. It was very effective too, because Marcelo and Di Maria were loath to abandon their positions on the flank by tracking him.

4. Since Christmas I think they’ve been playing as well as they have all season at times – particuarly in the first half in Seville last month and for most of the second half on Wednesday – but just not scoring goals by the sackful.

5. I think all this year’s signings – Villa, Mascherano, Adriano and Afellay – have come remarkably good remarkably quickly. The latest word is that this summer they’ll bring in not Llorente or any other classic BLUF (big lad up front) but rather Giuseppe Rossi from Villarreal. An excellent fit, I reckon, as he can deliver from any front-line position, wide, central or even from deep, whenever Messi’s unavailable. (Quite where this would leave Bojan and Jeffren, we’ll have to wait and see.)

kaveh on April 22, 2011 at 3:52 am

If anyone is interested, i found a replay of the Mascherano dive. This is absolutely DISGUSTING. Every time Barca is in trouble, they do the same thing, attempt to cheat and get a player sent off. Luckily, the ref gave “only” a yellow for this, but just like Motta and Inter with the disgusting Biscuits dive, the ref COULD have given a straight red. He fell for the ruse afterall because he gave him a yellow.

This is absolutely disgraceful. To use these type of tactics in an attempt to play all important matches 11 vs 10 should be fixed by the officiating federation. They need to watch tape of ALL games and when they see stuff like this, a 5 game suspension without pay should be the result. This is a blatant attempt at cheating and it will only stop if they do something about it.

Yes, it is disgusting. But it is not half as distgusting as the constant dives by Angel Di María (he actually took the crown from CR), Cristiano Ronaldo, and Marcelo (just remember the penalty at Bernabeu that was no penalty at all).

Yang on April 22, 2011 at 4:08 am

Mr Mou is the worst enemy if he manage opposition team for sure.

I think sooner rather than later Mr Mou start to get upper hand to Barca team because he keep improving his ideas.

His game plan is nothing new but he keep changing team set up and make adjustments for better performance. The total football game plan have their own weakness for sure.

I think Villa must leave the team; he is too good for used only as dummy or purpose of collect defenders around him. Look at Ibra and Etoo; Spain NT team get in troubles since it’s main strike seriously out of forms.

Elsa on April 22, 2011 at 4:13 pm

Barca really need plan B..what they’ve done so far is too one dimensional..possession based football and hopefully : the opponent pressure got weaker (such as Madrid 2nd half), or the opponent fall asleep coz Barca pass the ball sideways or backward for such a long period (because the opponent park the bus), or hoping that one of their star player bring magic to the field.
Seriously no tactical innovation from Pep, he just wait his same old formula to work (be it 4-3-3, 3-4-3, 4-2-4) they still play the exact same way (winning or losing), and the players he brought doesn’t even bring any difference approach to the game..
I know if it’s not broken don’t fix it..but come on..be innovative..play some fast direct football..for once play deeper, let your opponent have the ball, soak some pressure and launch a lightning pace counter attack…or use central winger instead of pedro or vila stay wide, give all the flanks to Alves and Adriano and pack your midfield.
There are gazilion possibilities with your team now..and seriously I want to see a different kind of Barca that surprised people..

I just added your blog site to my blogroll, I pray you would give some thought to doing the same.

JH on April 23, 2011 at 1:13 pm

Pedro has much better movement than David Villa? Really?!

Buttcake on April 23, 2011 at 7:14 pm

Whatever way you look at it, this result was an utter humiliation for Guardiola and Barcelona. Just a few months ago they were able to destroy Real Madrid 5-0 and since then Mourinho has been able to close the gap while Barca seem to be going backwards. After that 5-0 I think you could argue Guardiola had the tactical edge over Mourinho but after this – no way. Mourinho is the master.

In fact I think you could argue Guardiola is squandering the Golden Generation – one European Cup for what is clearly the best Barca in history. If Barcelona played like Spain I think they would be a lot more successful. As it is, they are the masters at beating inferior teams but often are second best in the big games. Over the past three years Barcelona have had few true Big Games – they beat Man Utd in the final were Utd were poor, but they lost the tactical battles with Chelsea, Inter and now Real Madrid. The likes of Arsenal, VfB Stuttgart and the old Real Madrid teams they could beat into a cocked hat.

Cipo on April 24, 2011 at 8:31 am

You can’t be serious. A 0-1 loss in extra time is an “utter humiliation”? Did you expect Barça to beat them in every game 5-0? And any other result is a “utter humiliation” for Guardiola and Barça? What – at this stage of the season – pays off for Real Madrid, is the fact that they actually have enough excellent or very good players to build two complete teams. And Barça has not. What complicated things for Barça that key players they simply can’t substitute (like Puyol and Abidal) suffered injuries/illness.

FlatJack on April 26, 2011 at 8:41 pm

I have to agree with Buttcake – you can’t praise Mourinho for bridging the gap from a 5-0 humiliation to a 1-0 win without questioning how Guardiola turned a 5-0 win into a 1-0 loss. He has to feel some sort of embarassment about that. You can’t win every game but I’m sure every Barca fan felt a little humiliated after losing to Hercules. To lose to a bitter rival that you were 5-0 better than a few months ago in the cup final is embarassing. The ‘unity’ adverts with the players holding up their hands showed exactly what result Barca were expecting. This was a painful lesson in humility.

Zero on April 24, 2011 at 12:28 pm

I don’t think that it was necessarily a humiliation for Barcelona. The fact that they aren’t managing to win 5-0 at present probably just represents that this Madrid side have a fair bit more experience than back in that first game; Mourinho, after all, has generally been quite firm that his teams will have to take around one season to settle.

Cipo on April 25, 2011 at 8:52 am

Can anybody confirm that Portuguese referee Pedro Proença will be in charge of the semi-final first leg between Real Madrid and Barcelona? If that’s the case, it doesn’t look to good for Barça…

Cipo on April 25, 2011 at 11:28 am

Just heard the referee of this match will be Wolfgang Stark (Germany). That looks better…

Howard on April 25, 2011 at 4:04 pm

The appointment of Stark will certainly play to Barcelona’s advantage in this contest. As a ref that seems to like to control play with the use of cards, the scale has definitely been tipped in Barcelona’s favor…

Faeces on April 25, 2011 at 11:11 pm

It’s a remarkable turnaround for Guardiola. He usually takes the ‘talking about referees is beneath us, we prefer to do our talking on the pitch’ line when opponents question why they don’t get penalties or Barca offsides are overlooked – I think he said something similar about Alves not getting a second yellow in the first game. Now he’s questioning the integrity of referees, implying some sort of conspiracy – all the stuff they pilloried Mourinho for earlier in the season when everything was going right for Barcelona. The usual ‘we’re more than a club (until we act like everyone else)’ nonsense from Barcelona.

Cipo on April 26, 2011 at 8:32 am

Come on, Faeces, Mourinho is constantly complaining about everything. And it’s absolutely annoying! F.e., during this season he kept complaining that the schedule of La Liga was in favor of Barcelona, that they always had more rest days between games. You know what? I checked it. It was quite the contrary, though the difference wasn’t significantly. Did Pep ever comment aout it? No, he didn’t. But in this case I really would understand Pep’s concerns…

Faeces on April 26, 2011 at 8:33 pm

Yeah but the point is that Mourinho has never pretended he was anything better than someone who moans about everything that doesn’t go his way whereas Guardiola, like most of the Barca staff, tends to pretend he is above all that. It’s easy to pretend to take the moral high ground and say ‘I prefer not to criticize referees’ as Guardiola, Cruyff and some players have said after benefiting from a bad decision but to then come out with the guff Guardiola has this week…. – even Cruyff has called him on it, with some of his players straining to defend him.

I think that is what so many people find so distasteful about Barcelona – their constant moralising under the pretence they are more than a club when they consistantly fail to live up to their ideals (no sponsor – Qatar foundation, we grow players not buy them – Ibrahimovic, we don’t criticize refs – Guardiola whining this week…). There is no shame being as good a club as any other but there certainly is pretending you are better than everyone else when it’s clear you are not.